


Counting Stars

by dumbsbian



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Children, Drinking, F/F, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Flashbacks, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Girl Penis, Multiple Pairings, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Drug Addiction, Past Relationship(s), Post-Divorce, Roommates, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2020-05-28 11:50:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 40,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19393549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dumbsbian/pseuds/dumbsbian
Summary: Hope had let it all go to her head: the fame, money, and all the spoils that came with it. She let her marriage with Carli crumble to dust and threw away the only other chance she had to be with the woman that she'd been in love with since she was a teenager. Years after her last big screw up, Hope comes back to the place where the best parts of her life had taken place. As Hope tries to fit back into the lives of her ex-wife and children, she meets the one person who might be able to really help her relax and let the pieces fall back into place, Kelley O'Hara, one of her youngest son's soccer coaches.





	1. Chapter 1

"Holy shit," Hope muttered under her breath as she heard a car pull into her driveway. Hope had moved back to New Bay, New Jersey six weeks ago and she was finally getting to see her children. Hope had been out of their lives, aside from a phone or video call, for about 2 and a half years now. Hope knew that Carli wouldn't have let her near their children if it wasn't their youngest child, Maddie's, birthday. Maddie was the only one too young to remember any of what Hope had done. The oldest, Zack, absolutely hated her for everything, and the middle child, Luke, as he liked to be called now, didn't really have feelings about her either way. Hope and Carli had been divorced for nearly 6 years now, Luke had been a feeble attempt at fixing their marriage. They ended up calling it quits a month before he was born when Hope was busted for possession. Zack had been 6 then and he remembered watching the police take Hope away multiple times in his life. Maddie had been born about 3 years after they had divorced and six months after she was born, Hope had once again fucked up, worse than normal this time. 

"Is that what I think it is?" Carli asked as Hope stepped outside. Carli's hand was on Hope's car, an old light grey Chevy Impala. Hope nodded and Carli rolled her eyes. "Of course you keep the car you had in high school." 

"At this point it's essentially just the frame. I don't actually know what's still in there anymore, but it's a lot nicer than it was when I left," Hope said and Carli nodded. "Oh, and I still have a couple of the junkyard cars, they're in the process of getting fixed up. You mentioned Zack liked cars." 

"Yeah, Zack does, but Zack does not like you at all," Carli said and Hope nodded. "He's riding with Sam." 

"Sam?" Hope asked and Carli nodded. 

"The Australian," Carli filled in the gap and Hope ran a hand through her hair. "Actually, she took all of them for the day. They're getting ice cream, which gives us a bit of time to talk." 

"Gives me enough time to apologize you mean," Hope said and Carli sighed at Hope. "No, I get it, I've got a lot to apologize for. So, I'll just say it, I'm really fucking sorry Carli. I can't take back any of it, but I know now that those weren't the right decisions to be making. I should have listened to you and I should have just stopped playing after college. I had a family to take care of then and I could have gotten a job in marketing or something." 

"No, you were taking care of your family. Zack idolized you for so long and we both know that it's not me you should be saying sorry to. However, I'll accept your apology because I've seen how hard you're working to get yourself back on track now. I'm also sorry, I shouldn't have left you all alone when you needed somebody," Carli said, walking into Hope's house. It was nice, which Carli expected, but it was didn't remind her that much of how Hope had decorated their house before. "This looks a lot smaller than I expected." 

"Bet that's the only time you'll ever get to say that to me," Hope said with a smirk and Carli punched her shoulder. "Also, it'll be me by myself most of the time, so all the space would be unnecessary. I set up a goal outside, there are a few cars over there in the garage, and you should see the pool." 

"The checks are still coming in for everything I see." Carli crossed her arms over her chest as she followed Hope around the house. Carli remembered what this house used to look like before and was amazed that Hope had managed to fix it up so nicely. Well, not necessarily that surprised, Hope had always been the handy one in their relationship. Hope could use her hands, but it was Carli who could do most of the other thing in the house. Although, Carli wouldn't admit it, Hope's cooking was always so much better than Carli's, even if she could only make 3 things. "Are you cooking dinner?" 

"Yes I am, don't worry. Spaghetti, just like I used to," Hope answered and Carli was actually pretty excited. Carli hadn't had Hope's cooking since Hope had moved out for the final time, 4 months after Maddie was born. Hope checked the time and got herself and Carli each a drink, a beer for Carli and a soda for herself. 20 minutes later, Sam had arrived and Carli's nerves really set in. Carli walked Sam to the backyard, but didn't hold onto her hand. Instead, Carli held onto Luke's hand while Sam held Maddie in one arm and made sure Zack kept up with them. Hope was sitting back on the grass, staring at the goal in front of her like it was ghost or something. 

"Hope, this is Sam," Carli said and Hope stood up. "Sam, this is Hope." 

"Huge fan," Sam said, letting go of Luke's hand to shake Hope's. Hope smiled at her and they seemed to get along well, a little soccer talk until Carli cleared her throat, a tactic that worked on both women to get their immediate attention. Hope took a moment to look at her three children, Zack looked like Carli with the exception of his eyes, Luke looked like an even mixture of both of his parents and was the only child with Carli's eyes, and Maddie looked identical to Hope. Hope looked past Sam for a second at Zack, he was about as tall as Carli and thin and lanky. Carli had told Hope a few times that Zack was a basketball player now and he started on his school's A team. Hope listened to Luke tell her all about his soccer team and his coaches, Kelley and Ali, whom he absolutely adored, for about 45 minutes. After that, she sat back and watched Zack and Maddie play while Sam got Luke set up in the goal. 

"Thanks for letting me come to Maddie's party," Hope said nervously. She wanted to say more, but she didn't want to ruin anything by giving too much. 

"You've been working really hard towards this and I believe that you really deserve it Hope, seriously. Besides, Sam's been wanting to meet you for the longest time, she's got your memorabilia in the basement," Carli said with an amused smile on her face. "It's sort of funny, Brian absolutely hated you being mentioned in passing and Sam nearly lost her shit whenever she saw Maddie because she looked like you." 

"Do the kids like her?" Hope asked and Carli nodded. 

"Oh yeah, they all really like her, which is a big change from him. Sam really tries to connect with them too, which is also a bit of a change from him. She's learning about basketball and cars for Zack, she plays soccer everyday with Luke even after work, and she's still trying to figure out Maddie. Kids are difficult at that age though, especially girls," Carli said and Hope remembered the bit of time she got to spend with Zack when he was so young. "Maddie doesn't do much more than listen to music with Sam in the basement, color, and look at picture books." 

"Obviously, she's artistic," Hope said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I think we should start her on music lessons soon. I mean, if she wants to, I'll pay for it. I don't know if you know this, but I'm still making bank." 

"How do you expect to continue making bank here?" Carli asked and Hope beamed. 

"I thought you'd never ask," Hope said excitedly. Carli missed being around Hope when she was genuinely excited about something. It reminded Carli of when Hope had been accepted to college, signed to play professionally in Seattle, and then offered her first TV contract. Carli got to see it often though, it seemed that both of the boys expressed their emotions in similar ways to Hope, including the ways that they would keep things in until they absolutely couldn't handle it anymore. "Okay, well, this is quite a ways from the garage right?" 

"Yes it is," Carli confirmed, remembering the 2 and a half mile walks from this house to the garage that some of Hope's family used to own along with a junkyard along the way. "A couple miles right?" 

"I bought everything from there to here. It was pretty cheap actually, but I'm working on getting designating the part that isn't forest by the garage into some fields so I can start a soccer training place. I mean, I got my certification through that one show, so all I need to do is get other instructors and everything build up again and it'll be fine," Hope said and Carli thought about it for a minute or two. "I'm meeting with Paul about it since he knows more about that stuff than I do. Would Sam be interested in that?" 

"When it's up and running definitely, but until then, please don't say anything. She just got a new job and I really want this one to work out for her." Carli stared at the Australian woman who as running the ball down the field towards her son. Both Hope and Carli watched as the ball flew just over Luke's fingers and into the net. "You should get in the goal and help him. Both of them would love it." 

"I should probably start dinner if we're going to eat anytime soon," Hope said and Carli rolled her eyes. Hope went into the kitchen to cook dinner for everybody and there was something nice about having somebody else to cook for that Hope missed. Granted, Hope hadn't actually cooked for herself in years, but there was something nice about it that she missed. The only difference between how tonight would be ending and all of the previous times is that she wouldn't have Carli there with her at the end of the night to crawl into bed with. In fact, Hope was pretty sure that she wouldn't be having anybody else in her bed for a long time. Her life was difficult enough to navigate and she didn't want to throw anybody else into the mix, besides, relationships after Carli had been harder than she ever imagined they could've been. 

"Where are your cups?" Zack asked, holding onto Maddie in his arms. Hope grabbed him a glass from the cupboard and watched as he filled it with tap water. He set Maddie down on one of the stools by the island and set the glass in front of her. "Remember what mom said, carefully." 

"I heard you like cars," Hope said and Zack shrugged. "My family used to own a garage in town, I've got some cars in there I'm working on fixing if you're interested." 

"Cars," Maddie blurted out and Zack nodded. "Zack, down please." Zack took the glass from her, set it on the table, and then let Maddie down from the chair. Zack stood in the kitchen for a moment, not saying anything to Hope, but not leaving either. Hope recognized the look on his face as the same one she would have when she had something to get off her chest, but didn't want to open up about it. 

"Can you please go tell everybody dinner's ready?" Hope asked and Zack just walked off. A few minutes later everybody came in, Carli carrying Maddie, Luke talking to Sam about something, and Zack just trailing behind all of them. Zack stayed silent throughout the entire meal, which made everything a little awkward. Sam took him back early with Maddie, who had fallen asleep almost immediately after dinner. That left Carli, Hope, and Luke there, the six year old having a difficult time keeping his eyes open. "I think you should have gone with Sam dude, you look absolutely exhausted." 

"And you have a game tomorrow," Carli added and Luke perked up a bit. 

"Can Hope come to the game?" Luke asked and Carli nodded. "Do you wanna come to the game? It's at 10 tomorrow morning, you can meet my coaches, Kelley and Ali." 

"Of course I'll be there dude," Hope said and Luke beamed. "I'll even come early." 

"You can ride with us if you want," Carli said and Hope nodded. "Great, I'll stick you in the car with Sam and Luke then. It's a game day tradition for Sam to drive Luke to the game. He thinks that's how he gets clean sheets." 

"No, Sam takes us for breakfast ice cream and that's how we get clean sheets," Luke said and Hope smiled at that. 

"My good luck charm was knowing that your mommy was watching me play," Hope said and Luke seemed amazed. "I always played better knowing she was watching me." 

"You can be my new good lucky charm," Luke said, putting his small hands on Hope's cheeks. Carli watched the exchange and her heart melted as Hope smiled and pulled the boy in for a hug. Hope told Luke a couple of soccer stories from her professional days and then Carli decided to take him home around 10, when he was practically passing out every 10 seconds.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Carli said and Hope nodded. Luke gave Hope a goodbye hug and Carli gave her a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Night Hope." 

"Night Carli," Hope said, shoving her hands in her pockets. Hope watched them drive off and then went back inside. She grabbed a bottle of beer, went up to her room, turned on Netflix, and turned in for the night. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow, you're not here late," Alex said, legitimately surprised. Alex and Kelley had been roommate for about 2 years now and last night had been the first that she hadn't come home in a long time. "Where were you?" 

"Apartment hunting with Christen," Kelley said and Alex frowned at her. "Tobin's moving in with you, I'm moving in with Christen, it'll be fine." 

"I'm gonna miss you," Alex said, sniffling a bit. Kelley pulled her in tightly for a hug before walking them from the parking lot to the fields. Tobin was playing with a couple of the kids, teaching them to nutmeg, Ali was talking with parents, and Ashlyn was with the goalkeeper for today's game and a tall woman. Kelley's eyes focused a bit better on the woman and she nearly fell on top of Alex. It had caused a bit of a ruckus, causing a few parents to look over, but Kelley played it off by pushing Alex lightly. "What's your deal?" 

"Don't look now, but I think that's Hope Solo over there," Kelley whispered and Alex nodded. "Why aren't you surprised?" 

"Because I've seen Luke's siblings and Luke told me when I got here," Alex said and Kelley tensed as Luke began approaching them with Hope. "Calm down, she's just another parent." 

"No, she's Hope Solo!" Kelley hissed and Alex rolled her eyes at her best friend. "I'm freaking out, what if I'm weird and she hates me?" 

"You'll be fine, Kelley." Alex patted Kelley's shoulder and helped her relax in the brief seconds before Hope got over to them. Luke got there just before Hope did and he immediately hugged Kelley's legs. Kelley put a hand on his back before kneeling in front of him and doing their secret handshake. Hope watched with adoration at the exchange, glad that Luke seemed to have another positive adult influence to make up for her lacking in that department. "This always takes a minute or two." 

"It's fine, I can tell he enjoys it. Carli used to get that look a lot," Hope said and Alex could hear the sadness in her voice. 

"I was married once too," Alex said and Hope seemed surprised. Alex was so young, too young to be divorced. "Well, I'm still married technically. The divorce hasn't went through yet. I haven't been home in almost a year. He kept the nice house and I went to live with a friend of mine. She's got a son around Patrick's age, so they get along pretty well." 

"Well, I hope yours goes over better than mine did." Hope let out a heavy sigh. "She's really good with Luke. Carli said he doesn't like a lot of people, says it's my fault." 

"Ashlyn had trouble as his coach at first. I guess he wouldn't talk to her, tried to stay by Carli the entire time, and wouldn't get near the other kids. Ash said he was really shy and I think it frustrated her a bit at first. Kelley came to a practice right before their first game and he took to her. She got some paperwork signed and has been a coach for all his teams," Alex said as Luke ran back to Hope. He dragged her over to Kelley and Hope offered her a soft smile first. 

"Hi, I'm Kelley O'Hara. Your son's a great goalkeeper, must be genetics," Kelley said with a laugh. Hope liked hearing Kelley laugh, just like she had when she first heard Carli laugh. "It's an honor to meet you, huge fan." 

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you. From what I hear, Luke really likes you," Hope said and Kelley shrugged. 

"She's the bestest!" Luke jumped up and down, pumping his fists excitedly. "She's my best friend."

"Stealing best friends are we?" Alex asked and Luke shrugged it off. "Dang, today is just not my day is it?" 

"Go hug Ash or Christen," Kelley said, pushing Alex away. Luke waved at the blue eyed woman as she walked away before sitting down in the grass. Kelley followed his lead and Hope did after a couple of seconds. "Did you say hi to everybody else?" 

"Yeah, she's met everybody except for JJ, but she's not here yet. Christen said she's with Alyssa and Moe getting coffee," Luke said and Hope brushed his hair back. It wasn't as dark as Carli's hair, but it wasn't nearly as light as Hope's natural hair color was. "Is Alex having a bad day?" 

"She's fine, just dramatic. Kind of like Ash is whenever Ali doesn't hug her back," Kelley said and Luke giggled. Kelley's watch beeped and Luke knew exactly what that meant. He raced over to where Ali was gathering all of the children as Kelley stayed back on the grass with Hope. 

"Aren't you gonna go join them?" Hope asked and Kelley shook her head. 

"Parents have a million questions first game and I am not dealing with any of them," Kelley said and Hope adjusted her sunglasses. "You ever thought about coaching?" 

"Sort of, I'm working on getting a soccer academy set up in town. It'll be something to help people that are serious about bettering themselves in soccer get further. I know enough about the camps that the national teams run and then professional soccer to know how to help people to get to that level. Also, it's a nice way to keep myself in shape," Hope said and Kelley had a hard time believing that Hope would ever have trouble with that. The older woman was wearing a pair of jeans that weren't necessarily tight, but they weren't really loose fitting either, a pair of Nike shoes that looked really expensive, a pair of designer aviator sunglasses, and a tank top. Kelley could see the muscle in her arms and could only imagine the abs that Hope had. Technically, Kelley had seen Hope's abs before, on the internet, but never in real life. 

"There's no way you're not cut," Kelley said without thinking. Hope chuckled at that and lifted up the bottom of her shirt a bit. She glanced down and shrugged as Kelley's jaw dropped. She flexed her stomach and then just looked back up at Kelley as she dropped her shirt back down. "Yeah, cut, you're cut." 

"I could benefit from a bit more exercise though," Hope said and Kelley scoffed. "That was way more impressive a few years ago." 

"Well, color my impressed." Kelley's voice cracked a bit and she cleared her throat, blushing. "I mean, I work out regularly, but damn." 

"Maybe we can workout sometime," Hope suggested and Kelley nodded. "I should go over there with Carli. You're free to join me if you want." 

"If I'm holding Ricky, nobody bugs me," Kelley said, getting up off of the grass quickly. Hope hopped up and the two of them walked over there. Kelley held onto Alex's son the entire game and Maddie sat in Hope's lap so she was close to both Hope and Kelley. It seemed that all of Hope and Carli's kids liked Kelley. Kelley and Zack spent a few minutes talking about sports, even though Zack spent most of his time talking to Tobin about basketball. 

Luke's team ended up winning the game. Hope noticed that he was really good, much more advanced than the other team's goalkeeper. Hope could see youth national teams in his future, which she was conflicted about. Hope had been through that and it could be stressful, but if Luke was as enthusiastic about soccer as he seemed to be, Hope knew that he'd love it. Luke managed to rope Hope into going to lunch with them after the game, which was really Luke convincing Zack to say yes to Hope tagging along. 

"I saw you talking to Kelley," Sam said, sitting down across from Hope in a booth. "She's got a major crush on you. I mean, poster in the bedroom crush." 

"Everybody has a teenage crush," Hope said and Sam just chuckled. 

"You like her too, don't try to pull one over on me." Sam gave her a look and Hope shrugged. "Kelley got me with Carli. The least I can do to repay her is get the two of you together. Kelley's not the relationship type though, not at first. Things need to be casual, I assume that you exchanged numbers." 

"Yeah, she has my number. We're supposed to go workout sometime," Hope said and Sam smirked at her. "Not like that." 

"Her workout is gonna kick your butt," Sam said and Hope shrugged. "Also, I totally saw you flash her your abs today. Normally she's the one playing fuckboy, I'm impressed." 

"Can we stop this conversation before my children get to the booth?" Hope asked and Sam nodded. "One of these days, we should grab a beer together." 

"You're not gonna bury me alive or anything right?" Sam asked nervously. 

"We need to talk, but if you hurt Carli or the kids, being buried alive will seem like a dream." Hope's tone was deadly serious and Sam nervously gulped. Maddie ran over to the table, followed by Luke who was holding two children's cups. Maddie sat on Hope's lap and Luke sat next to Hope, knowing the space by Sam was always Carli's. "You played so good dude." 

"Thanks, Sam says it's geneticists," Luke said and Hope ruffled his hair. 

"Genetics," Sam corrected and Luke brushed her off. "What did you get to eat?" 

"Chicken fingers," Luke answered and Sam wasn't surprised. "Maddie got the same thing. Mommy ordered your food for you Hope." 

"Mama," Maddie corrected. She slapped Hope's cheeks and giggled when Hope blinked at her as a result. Carli and Zack came back carrying the food and Carli slid in next to Sam. Luke scooted over closer to Hope so Zack could sit next to him. It was a tradition for Zack and Luke to sit by each other, a tradition that Hope being there wouldn't break. The food was passed around and Hope realized how hungry she was as soon as she got her food. "French fry Mama." Maddie held one of Hope's fries up to her face and waited patiently for Hope to bite it. 

"Thank you Mads," Hope said, smiling at the little girl on her lap. Zack didn't talk to Hope, but at least this time he was talking. Hope decided she could wait for him to come around instead of trying to push. Hope could see parts of herself in him and she didn't like being pushed in certain directions, so she knew how to best get through to him. Luke seemed excited to have Hope back in his life and Maddie had taken a liking to Hope quickly. Carli noticed that Sam seemed to like Hope, although she had yet to ask her about it. Carli was happy enough with that, knowing that eventually Zack would accept that Hope was staying. Once Zack accepted that, work could be done to repair as much of that relationship as possible. 

"Bye Mama," Maddie said as Carli pulled into Hope's driveway. Hope got out of the car and walked over to Maddie's door, opening it and hugging her daughter goodbye. 

"I'll see you at your birthday party Mads, I promise," Hope said and Maddie smiled. "Do you know how old you're gonna be?" 

"3!" Maddie exclaimed. Hope nodded, smiling as she backed away and closed Maddie's door. Hope went to say bye to Luke, who was teary eyed at her departure. 

"Can't you stay with us?" Luke asked and Hope shook her head. "But you're gonna be all alone here. I don't want you to be all alone like Zack." 

"I'm fine here trust me Luke. You don't need to worry about me, your mommy does that enough for you," Hope assured him. Hope hugged him and then closed his door. She made a final stop at Carli's door, but didn't open it. "Sunday?" 

"Sunday," Carli confirmed. Hope stepped away from the car and Carli drove away. Hope went inside, got herself a beer, and then sat on her couch, thinking about what Sam had said about Kelley. Hope wasn't ready for another relationship, she knew that much, but she wouldn't mind something casual to start her out again. So, Hope sat back on her couch and waited for that text from Kelley to come. She had been prepared to wait all night, but luckily she didn't have to. 

**'I waited the bare minimum mandatory couple of hours. Tomorrow at 10:30 work for you if I buy lunch?' - Kelley**

_ 'Definitely, just tell me what gym and I'll be there.' -Hope _

** 'Sky Blue. 10:30.' -Kelley **

__Hope set her phone down and smiled. She went upstairs and got some clothes for the gym tomorrow. She set out a pair of US Soccer shorts from what felt like forever ago and a Reign practice shirt. Hope realized then that she had a lot of old soccer clothes in her dresser, all packed into the bottom two drawers. Hope sighed, wondering what it would be like if she was still playing, but deciding that she was better off not knowing. She was getting to spend time with her family and she had a gym thing (maybe date) with a really hot woman that happened to already be great with her kids. Things were beginning to look up for Hope.


	3. Chapter 3

"Damn, you really know how to wear a girl out," Kelley said as she followed Hope to the parking lot of Sky Blue. Hope had shown up to the gym to work out and Kelley was surprised how hard the older woman had gone. They had gotten to know each other a bit better at the gym, which both women were grateful for. Hope told Kelley a bit about what it had been like to play with the national team, both senior and youth, what the professional soccer circuit had been like for her, and then just a couple of her interests. Kelley had told Hope about Stanford, what she liked about coaching, and then offered to take her to the fields one day so they could play against each other. Hope had been surprised to learn that Kelley knew about her history as a field player, so she issued a shooting challenge. Hope agreed on the condition that Kelley get in the goal for a bit to even the playing field. 

"I've heard that before," Hope said and Kelley leaned against her side. "If you're so tired from that, you'll never last for our more intense workouts." 

"If we're doing that again, I think you owe me something," Kelley said, looking up at the former goalkeeper. "Nothing too big, maybe a kiss." 

"I suppose that's not asking too much," Hope joked and Kelley seemed surprised that she was going along with it. That surprise was nothing compared to what she felt when Hope's lips touched hers. Kelley's brain took a second to kick on, but when it did, she kissed back, not caring that they were still in the parking lot. Hope broke the kiss and Kelley was a bit dazed, trying to figure out what was happening. "Was that a mistake?" 

"No, but I think you should do it again, I didn't really get the message," Kelley said and Hope shook her head. "Was I a bad kisser or something?" 

"It's not that, but I'm really hungry and you did totally tell me that we'd get food after this," Hope said and Kelley nodded. They got into Hope's car, which Kelley thought was one of the coolest things ever. "So, where are we going to eat?" 

"I literally do not care, we could go to McDonald's and I would be perfectly happy," Kelley said, still a little hazy from the kiss. It had been the best kiss of her entire life. There had been sparks, just like the first time she'd ever kissed a girl, but it was more intense. Kelley had no doubt in her mind that she had been made to kiss Hope Solo after that. "It was a good kiss right?" 

"Don't worry, I wouldn't be taking you to a nice place to eat if it wasn't," Hope said and Kelley seemed relaxed. Hope, however, had come to the realization that if Kelley really was as much of a fan of her as she claimed to have been, she had definitely heard the rumors. There were people had never, nor would they ever had, heard of Hope until the rumors of Hope having a dick had started. Technically, they weren't rumors, Hope had fathered 3 kids with Carli and there was no denying that they were Hope's kids. If the child didn't resemble Hope, it sure as hell acted like her. Hope had never actually justified those rumors with a response, but then again, not a lot of people were willing to just come up to her and ask about it. She wouldn't lie to them, but nobody ever seemed to have specifically asked the right question. 

"You okay?" Kelley asked and Hope nodded. Hope was silent as they drove to an actual restaurant, which Kelley had been a bit surprised about. Neither of them were dressed for a sit-down place, at least not one this nice. Hope didn't seem bothered though, she had worn a lot less fancy clothes to places much fancier than this. Kelley, however, wondered silently whether or not she should actually afford this place with her current gig. When the menu came, Kelley realized that she was lucky as hell that Christen was about to be her new roommate and that the woman wouldn't mind if Kelley skipped out on her cut of the groceries for a week. 

"Don't worry about the bill, I've got it," Hope said, seeming to catch on to Kelley's worry. "I picked the place, I think it's overkill for a lunch date, but the dessert here is worth committing several crimes for." 

"Felonies?" Kelley asked and Hope nodded. "I don't know what to talk about." 

"Well, you can ask me any question and I will answer it honestly," Hope said and Kelley nodded. She thought on it for a second before getting an idea. 

"Did you say yes because Sam told you I like fucking around?" Kelley asked, surprising Hope. 

"No, I mean, I gave you my number before anybody told me anything about you besides my son. He talked you up, but what Sam said did make me think. If that's all you want, I'm fine with it because I'm not 100% on getting back into relationships and all that shit. However, if you wanted something more, something slower, I'd be perfectly fine with that too," Hope answered honestly. Kelley could tell she was being honest and Kelley was ready for her first adult relationship to start somewhere other than Tinder or a hookup. 

"I'd really like it if we could do something a bit more slowly. I'm not talking, wait forever, but I don't want to rush anything. I also don't want you to feel rushed," Kelley said and Hope nodded. "I would however, like a second date at a place that doesn't make me feel like I should be giving you a handjob to make up for the price on the drive back." 

"No handjobs in the car, the inside of it is untainted so far. Also, I'm not like that. I do want you to know though, it won't get any cheaper, but I'm always willing to pay for anything." Hope leaned forward a little and Kelley smiled up at her. Kelley learned a lot about Hope in that meal. She learned that Hope doesn't believe that it's a sacrifice when it's for somebody you truly love and care about, that Hope will always own up to her mistakes, no matter how long it takes for her to realize she fucked up, and that Hope has a sense of humor. Most of Hope's childhood and a good portion of her personal life was on the internet one way or another, so Hope dug a little deeper so Kelley could learn something about her. Kelley told Hope the things about herself that Hope didn't really get a chance to tell her about personally. 

"So, I'll text you my gym schedule and the days I don't have practices so we can meet up or whatever," Kelley said as she got into Hope's car. "If you want, I'll cook for you sometime. Actually, not gonna lie, I'll probably end up cooking for you if we don't go get fast food most of the time." 

"Hey, I've lived off of pretty much everything except home cooked meals for the past 6 years. I'll take it over almost anything," Hope said and Kelley smiled at her. Hope dropped Kelley off at the gym, but the two of them sat in Hope's parked car for a couple of moments. "Sure you don't want me to walk you to your car?" 

"I'm fine," Kelley said and Hope pouted at her. "Fine, but only because my arms are like jelly from earlier." 

"It's the feeling of progress," Hope said and Kelley rolled her eyes. Hope walked Kelley to her car and was about to go back when Kelley grabbed her by the shirt. Hope turned around and Kelley jumped up to kiss her. Hope let her hands fall to the small of Kelley's back. Hope barely turned them and then placed her hands on Kelley's car, pressing the shorter woman against it as they locked lips. Kelley could have kissed Hope forever, but of course, they had to get interrupted. 

"Kev!" Sam yelled, causing Hope to jump away from her. "Hope, nice to see you. Maddie's party is tomorrow around noon, don't forget. Kev, you wanna work out with me?" 

"I'm going home, Hope and I already worked out for 90 minutes today," Kelley said and Sam wiggled her eyebrows. "No, like actual working out. I can barely lift my arms." 

"Oh, well, Monday then," Sam said, walking backwards towards the gym. Hope chuckled as Kelley unlocked her car. 

"I hate her sometimes," Kelley said and Hope shrugged. 

"Sam seems sweet, plus she's good for Carli. I swear I haven't seen her so happy since we were like 20," Hope said fondly. "I'll see you later." 

"I'm not going to the gym until 1:30 Monday, can I come and make you breakfast around 9?" Kelley asked and Hope nodded. 

"Definitely. Oh, by the way, the path to my heart is paved with pancakes and bacon," Hope informed Kelley. Hope gave Kelley one more kiss and then closed the door for her. Kelley buckled up and drove off as Hope walked back to her own car. 

* * *

"Carli, this is just everybody that already lives in this house and Hope," Sam said, laying down on the bed as Carli got dressed. Hope had come by at 12, which was an hour earlier than Carli had planned for things to be done. Of course, she didn't get up to her room to get ready until 12:15 and then Sam had woken up from her nap about then and slowed Carli's getting dressed monumentally. It was not almost 1 and Carli had put on the same shirt almost 6 times. 

"Whatever Sam, just please put on something a bit nicer. I kind of want to take pictures and I'd like it if I could get one of you where you aren't wearing either shorts, sweatpants, or underwear," Carli said and Sam untied the ties on her sweatpants. Carli glanced at the door and then focused back on Sam. She needed to get her girlfriend ready, but Sam was making it impossible for that to happen. Sam's hand slipped into her pants and Carli pulled her hand out. "There is not a lock on the door, we need to get it fixed." 

"Ugh, well you're sending the kids out of the house tonight," Sam said, reaching for hand sanitizer. Sam quickly changed and then laid back down on the bed. "Lay with me for a minute or two?" 

"Of course," Carli said, climbing into bed with Sam. Carli settled in next to Sam, letting the younger woman cuddle with her. Sam was rarely cuddly like this, but Carli knew that Sam needed this. Sometimes, she needed to be held like this, innocently and without an actual reason. Carli forgot how young Sam was sometimes, she forgot how young she was in hindsight as well. She had yet to turn 30, but had 3 kids, one of them approaching his teenage years. "I love you Sam." 

"I love you too," Sam whispered against Carli's neck. Carli turned her head to kiss Sam's forehead before closing her eyes. Carli took a deep breath and could feel exhaustion hit her like a brick wall. "I doubt that Hope would mind if you took a nap. I could go downstairs and help out." 

"No, I need to stay away. We can nap tonight after the kids go wherever we're sending them. Once they're gone, we're not leaving the bed until we absolutely have to," Carli said and Sam was surprised to hear her talk like that. 

"I like how you think," Sam said and Carli held her tightly. They laid there for about 5 minutes and then Carli got up and went downstairs, Sam following her. Carli smiled as she watched Zack and Hope listen to Luke reading a story. Maddie was asleep in Hope's arms and Zack was helping Luke out with whatever words that he didn't know. Sam wrapped her arms around Carli's waist and kissed her shoulder before walking her into the kitchen. They went unnoticed by everybody else and Sam took the moment to make out with Carli in the kitchen. It didn't last too long as Hope came in and accidentally interrupted them. 

"Should have known, you always had a thing for kitchens," Hope said, still holding Maddie. 

"You can put her down," Carli said and Hope shrugged. "Glad to know some things haven't changed." 

"I don't know why you tease me about this. They're your kids too, I don't know how heavy they sleep," Hope said and Carli leaned up to kiss Hope's cheek. Sam pouted at that and Carli turned to kiss her as well. 

"Luke is the only one who's a light sleeper. Maddie and Zack sleep like you do, nothing can wake them up when they're really out," Carli said and Hope handed Maddie to Carli. Carli handed Maddie back to Hope and took a picture of her holding their daughter so she could hang it with the ones of Hope with Zack and Luke. Carli woke Maddie up to open presents and eat cake at Luke's request. Carli got a lot of pictures and then let Zack go to a friend's while Luke and Maddie went with Hope. Once they were alone, Sam and Carli went straight upstairs. Sam wanted to have sex with Carli, but she knew that her girlfriend needed to sleep. 

"Let's take a nap," Sam said, laying back. 

"Are you tired though?" Carli asked, lazily looking over at her girlfriend. Sam shrugged and pulled Carli on top of her. "Who am I kidding? You can literally sleep anywhere." 

"So let's take advantage of that," Sam said, pulling a blanket over Carli. Carli got out of bed briefly to take her jeans off and then got back into bed, falling asleep quickly in Sam's arms. Sam stayed awake for about an hour, just running her fingers through Carli's hair and watching her sleep. "I love you Carls," Sam whispered as she grabbed onto Carli's hand, holding it as she too fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty much just smut.

"You're an asshole," Alyssa said, pushing Julie off of the couch. "All she fucking wanted was to say bye to you." 

"I texted her," Julie said and Alyssa pulled her onto her feet. Alyssa was not a violent person, but she was about to kick Julie's ass. The first hit came and Julie didn't fight it, she deserved that one and the next five for every week she had avoided Christen. It was the literal punch to the gut that snapped Julie into anger. She tried pushing back against Alyssa, throwing a couple of her own punches, but it didn't work. Alyssa easily just knocked her hands away before just pushing her backwards. Alyssa walked away after that and Julie didn't let it stay that way. She ran towards Alyssa and hit her in between the shoulder blades, only to be practically thrown into the coffee table. "Get the fuck out of my apartment!" 

"Fucking fine, I'll go to Christen's," Alyssa said and Julie sat on the floor, knees pulled up to chest, crying. She cried because she missed Christen, she cried because Alyssa had actually hurt her, she cried because of how easily Alyssa just left her there, and she cried because she felt truly alone. It was her fault that she was alone, she'd been the one to push everybody away from her. Julie got up and walked over to the fridge, grabbing the kombucha that she didn't remember buying, but remembered the reason behind it. It was a 20 minute walk to Christen's new apartment from Julie's, which was long enough for Julie's tears to dry. It was also long enough for Julie to think of an apology for Christen and Alyssa. While she was at it, apologizing to Moe seemed like a good idea, especially once she found out their coffee table was now broken. 

"JJ, hey Alyssa said you weren't coming," Kelley said, shoving her hands in her pockets. Julie shrugged and followed Kelley up, not saying a word. "Chris is gonna be happy you came over. She was pretty bummed when Alyssa didn't come back with you." 

"Come back with me?" Julie asked and Kelley nodded. 

"Christen sent her to pick you up. She said she had something for you," Kelley said, unlocking the door to her new apartment. It was bigger than Christen's, but this one had room for a small family, or two women and Christen's dogs. "Chris, JJ's here." 

"Jules?" Christen asked, poking her head out from the kitchen. Julie nervous waved at her and Christen came running towards her as if Julie was holding a dog. "I thought you couldn't make it." 

"Hey, you wanted me here." Julie handed her the case of kombucha from their fridge and followed Christen into the kitchen. Morgan was sitting in Alyssa's lap, the couple glaring at Julie, Alex was watching a pot of noodles boil, Kelley was getting herself acquainted with the kitchen, and Tobin was eating fruit snacks with Ben. "You said you had something to show me." 

"Yeah, come on." Christen took Julie's hand and walked her to the room at the end of the hall. It was a nice sized bedroom, much bigger than Julie's. Julie didn't have a chance to ask her what she was gonna be shown when Christen's mouth was on hers. Julie inhaled sharply through her nose and then kissed Christen back. Christen broke the kiss and Julie rested her forehead against Christen's shoulder. Christen noticed the door was still open and walked over to shut it. "I've missed this so much." 

"I missed it too," Julie said quietly and Christen pushed her onto the bed. That was different for Julie, usually she was the one who would take control of the situation between them. It wasn't unwelcomed though, she enjoyed Christen taking power just as much as she enjoyed taking it herself. Christen sat on Julie's lap and rocked her hips a bit, keeping her mouth busy on Julie's neck. Julie let out a soft moan and Christen kept her mouth on Julie's as she moved her hand into Julie's sweats. Julie fell back on the bed and spread her legs a little so Christen could have a better angle. Christen knew they only had however long it would take for Kelley get dinner ready, so Christen moved quickly. Normally, she would take her time, but time was of the essence and Christen wasn't sure if she could keep her emotions about how Julie had been treating her lately at bay long enough to do what she normally did. 

"Shut up," Christen growled as Julie broke the kiss to loudly moan. Christen's other hand covered up Julie's mouth as her mouth moved down to her neck. There would be marks from that, but there would be marks from Julie's fingers pressing into the backs of her shoulders. Christen liked those marks though, everybody expected her to want sex to be slow and loving, but Julie understood that sometimes she needed it faster and rougher. Julie could do fast and rough for Christen like nobody else, but she could also do the slow and sensual. Christen kept her fingers in Julie until the blonde's body had stopped shaking and stilled. Christen wiped her hand off on a blanket and then grabbed hand sanitizer. 

"I don't work until Thursday, is there sometime I can come by or maybe you stop by my place?" Julie asked and Christen shrugged. 

"Maybe I'll text you," Christen said and Julie knew what was happening. Christen walked out of her bedroom, leaving Julie to just sit there by herself until Kelley came to get her. 

* * *

Carli glanced over at Sam and smiled. Zack had agreed to watch Maddie and Luke for a few hours while they went to do something together. Sam had suggested they go to the gym and Carli agreed. Carli hadn't been to the gym with Sam since the Australian had used it as her only seduction tactic. Sam could show off there and she always did. Now though, they actually got in a good workout and Sam realized that her endurance was lacking a bit in comparison to her wife. Carli unlocked the car and Sam flopped into the passenger's seat with a heavy sigh. 

"Tired?" Carli asked and Sam nodded. "We can pick up dinner and then get drunk in the basement." 

"I like the way you think," Sam said and Carli smirked at her. "I wanna stop by the liquor store first though. I wanna pick up a couple things." 

"Fine by me, we can just get Chinese then, there's a restaurant across from the nice liquor store," Carli said and Sam was going to ask her how she knew that was a good liquor store, but remembered that Carli bought all of the booze that was in their liquor cabinet. Sam bought the drinks for the basement, which was mainly the same stuff she had been drinking in high school back in Australia and then when she lived with Kelley. It was cheap and wasn't something that a person could easily get drunk on. Carli dropped Sam off to buy her booze and then ordered their dinner. Sam was buzzing a little bit on the ride back, which wasn't necessarily uncommon. Sam didn't like just sitting in the car, she had to be the one driving or else she'd get restless. "Here is your dinner, we'll be in the basement. Zack's still in charge guys." 

"Luke, come on and eat, we'll finish the game after dinner," Zack said and Luke paused the game. Carli grabbed their food and then ran after Sam, who was already in the basement. Carli locked the door and told Zack to call her if there was an emergency. 

"What did you pick out?" Carli asked, sitting down on the couch in front of Sam. She dumped the bags out of the ground and there was some clunking from glass hitting against glass. Carli noticed a couple of bottles of flavored vodka, a bottle of strawberry tequila, and some cans of mixed drinks that Carli had never seen before in her entire life. She picked one up and noticed that it was just beer mixed with various other alcohols. 

"They had everclear, but I didn't think that was a good idea," Sam said and Carli's stomach churned at the very thought of that beverage. Sam grabbed her food and started eating, opening one of the cans first. Carli decided she'd share with Sam, not wanting to open the other bottles. "How was your day?" 

"Good, really good actually," Carli said with a small smile. "What about you? You've been out all day." 

"Alright, I went to eat breakfast with Kelley, played a bit of soccer, and then went to work," Sam said and Carli draped her arm around Sam's stomach. "I missed you a lot though. I think I've been working too much." 

"It would be nice to see you around a bit more, but if your work is making you happy, I think you should," Carli said and Sam sighed. "Do what you wanna do and I'll be there to help you when you need it." 

"I love you." Sam smiled and turned her head to kiss Carli's cheek. She put her arm around Carli and realized how long it had been since she had taken a moment to just embrace Carli like that. Neither of them were in dire need of a nap, had anything waiting for them to take care of in the upcoming seconds, and Sam missed their moments like that. It was the brief period of time before Carli had introduced Sam to her kids, which was nice, but Sam liked having Carli and Carli's kids in her life more than just Carli. Sam felt like she had another family, one away from hers back in Australia. "When Luke's soccer season ends, do you think we could take a vacation to Perth?" 

"Of course," Carli told her and Sam was relieved. "I think it'd be good for the kids to meet your family. Besides, you need to go back there sometime, I mean you've been here as long as we've been together." 

"It's easier to just stay close to you, travel is expensive, and my siblings have flown over a few times," Sam said and Carli seemed surprised. "Have they met your family?" 

"Nope and they won't. Even though I'm not with Hope anymore, we're not really on good terms," Carli said and Sam frowned. She couldn't imagine not being on good terms with her family, they were her everything. Carli knew that, she knew that firsthand because when Carli had come into Sam's life, she'd been accepted like family and Sam had yet to let her go. They finished eating and Sam opened one of the bottles of vodka. Carli couldn't read what was on it because it was in another language, but Sam seemed to have known exactly what she was getting into. 

"Now for dessert," Sam announced, lifting Carli's shirt up a little. She pushed Carli onto her back and poured a little onto her stomach. Carli watched as Sam licked it up before practically lunging up to kiss Carli softly. Carli could taste the drink on Sam's lips and she kind of hated it. It had a very strong flavor that wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't very good either, just confusing and sweet. Carli reached for the can that Sam had been drinking out of before and took a drink of that instead, liking it much better. "Body shots not your thing?" 

"Sam, I haven't done a body shot since I got divorced. It's not that it's not my thing, but you're using gross alcohol," Carli said and Sam frowned. That frown went away when Carli moved to sit on Sam's lap. Sam's hands fell to Carli's sides and Carli threaded one hand in Sam's hair and placed the other one between them, resting on Sam's stomach. "Besides, body shots are just an excuse to put your mouth somewhere on me that isn't my mouth." 

Sam opened her mouth to say something, but Carli pulled her in for a kiss instead. Carli let Sam lead the kiss, moaning into the younger woman's mouth as they sat on the couch, making out. Sam tugged at Carli's shirt and Carli broke the kiss to remove it, letting Sam's hands roam all over the newly exposed skin. Carli moaned into Sam's mouth when Sam's thumbs ran over her nipples through the thin fabric of a sports bra. Carli liked that she had moved past the part in her relationship with Sam where she had to try so hard to stay sexy so that Sam would want to stay with her. Sam had worked her ass off for six months after they had started sleeping together that Carli didn't need to do anything before she actually began to believe it. 

"You don't need an excuse, you never need an excuse," Carli's voice was low as she spoke against Sam's lips. Sam swiftly moved them so that Carli was laying back against the couch with Sam hovering above her. Carli knew that they were going to be having sex, she'd known it from the second that Sam had looked up at her after licking the sugary sweet drink off of her stomach and it was confirmed with how Sam had kissed her. Carli wanted it too, being with Sam was amazing and unlike anything else she'd ever experienced. Carli loved being with Sam because it both reminded her of Hope when they had first gotten married, but at the same time, Carli knew Sam was nothing like Hope and could never be. 

"Don't talk like that," Sam whined a little and Carli pushed her hips up against Sam's. Carli couldn't feel anything, but the groan from Sam meant that she had done exactly what she wanted to. Sam sat back on Carli's legs for a moment and pulled her shirt off before standing up and taking off both pairs of shorts, the basketball shorts and the spandex underneath them. Carli could see that Sam was hard now, boxer brief fabric straining a little bit. Carli sat up and Sam started on removing her leggings. Sam settled in between Carli's legs and teased her through her underwear. Carli squirmed with every push against her from Sam's tongue. Carli was getting restless when she finally felt Sam pull her underwear down her legs. Carli was wet from Sam's teasing and ready for whatever Sam wanted to give her, at least she thought she was. Instead of touching her where she wanted it, Sam moved up and just kissed Carli. It wasn't the type of kiss they normally shared during sex, but more of something Carli would give Sam when she came downstairs for breakfast in the morning or when one of them got back home from work. 

"Sam," Carli whined, grabbing onto Sam's bicep. Her grip was a bit rough, but it relaxed when Sam rubbed herself against Carli's core. Sam gave Carli a couple of kisses as she moved down her body before settling between her legs. Sam was going to take her time with Carli tonight, she wanted that much for both of them at the very least. Once Sam actually started touching Carli, patience came easier for Carli. The slow strokes of Sam's tongue against her clit paired with the teasing finger inside of her, slowly worked Carli to the edge. She wanted to cum with Sam, so she pushed the Australian's head back from between her legs and sat up. "Together." 

"Trust me, you won't have to wait long," Sam said and Carli noticed the wet spot on her underwear. Sam tugged down her underwear and Carli reached out to touch Sam, but was stopped. "Yeah, do that and I doubt together's gonna happen babe." 

"Oh, sorry," Carli said and Sam dipped her head down to kiss Carli as she settled on top of her. Sam put a condom on and then rubbed herself against Carli a couple of times before entering her. Carli was warm, wet, and kind of tight. Sam moved slowly at first, but then found a rhythm. Carli moved along with Sam, matching her movement for movement. Sam came first, stilling except for the little twitches of her hips. For Carli, it was a mixture of seeing Sam like and the way she moved after, trying to get Carli to cum as well that pushed her over the edge. Carli held onto Sam tightly and Sam moved her hips slowly to draw it out for Carli a bit. Sam moved off of Carli, but held onto her hand as she watched Carli lay there with her eyes closed. "Does the shower down here work?" 

"It's kinda cold," Sam said and Carli stood up, taking Sam with her. 

"Perfect," Carli said and Sam looked for a towel. Carli got the shower ready and then the two of them showered together. Sam got out first and went to find them some clothes as Carli dried off. Once they were dressed, they went upstairs and Sam turned on the Xbox as Carli curled up next to her on the couch. Carli glanced up at Sam and smiled, she was perfectly fine with spending her life anywhere, doing anything, as long as Sam was gonna be there next to her. "I love you." 

"Love you too." Sam didn't look away from the screen as she leaned down to give Carli a kiss. She missed her mouth a little, instead kissing the side of her jaw. "Always will."


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, so we're still moving in, so I don't know how it's gonna look yet," Kelley said, turning to Hope. Kelley unlocked the door and pushed it open, surprised to find that everything in the living room was unpacked. "Take a seat in here and I'll get started on dinner." 

"Or I'll sit in the kitchen and distract you," Hope said and Kelley sighed. Hope leaned in and kissed Kelley, pulling the smaller woman's body against her own. Kelley braced herself to hop into Hope's arms, but the kiss was broken. "Food?" 

"Yeah, but distracting me will make it take longer," Kelley said and Hope sat on a barstool with her hands in her lap, patiently watching Kelley cook. Kelley was a natural in the kitchen, moving around like she'd been born there and never left. Hope was never that confident in the kitchen, not even when she was making any of the three things she actually knew how to cook. Once everything was on the stove or in the oven, Kelley set a timer and walked over to Hope. She hopped onto the counter and turned the stool so Hope was facing her. "So, um, anything exciting going on in your life?" 

"Depends on your definition of exciting," Hope said and Kelley shrugged. 

"Anything that excited you," Kelley said and Hope nodded. "Wanna tell me?" 

"Oh, right!" Hope exclaimed with an awkward laugh. "Well, I got the groundskeeping stuff started so there are about to be a couple new fields in town. Carli agreed to work out a schedule for weekends that I can have the kids. Oh and tomorrow I'm supposed to get all of the legal stuff sorted out for Reign Soccer Academy." 

"I thought it was gonna be Solo," Kelley said and Hope shook her head. 

"Having my last name on things tends to taint them," Hope said and Kelley scoffed. "What?" 

"You're dramatic, but Reign sounds cool." Kelley leaned in to kiss Hope as the first timer beeped. Kelley hopped off of the counter and took out the French bread she had heated up before checking on the other parts of their meal. She waited 5 minutes and then turned off the burners and plated everything. Kelley took them over to dining room table, which was really just a ping pong table that had been left out from a little gathering where they'd been playing beer pong. 

"I remember being where you are, that transition from college to other adulthood," Hope said and Kelley raised an eyebrow. "I take it that your roommate is the more responsible one." 

"Yeah, but I do the cooking and I clean up the living room after parties," Kelley said and Hope nodded. "We're have one Thursday if you're not busy. Our friend JJ doesn't work Thursday, so she can actually hang out and stay for more than 20 minutes. I'll get some nice booze for you if you want, keep it in my bedroom under my bed." 

"I'm sure there's nothing wrong with what you normally drink," Hope said and Kelley ran over to the fridge. She grabbed one can of every type of beer in their fridge and brought it to Hope. "Are you sure that you're old enough to buy alcohol?" 

"Not everybody can go out and buy fancy shit. I'm a recreational soccer coach," Kelley said and Hope leaned back in her chair a bit. "Don't do that, it'll break. Ashlyn broke one once." 

"How old are you again?" Hope asked and Kelley fake laughed. 

"24, I'll be 25 in August," Kelley said, leaning forward a bit. Hope's stomach growled and Kelley gave her a quick kiss before letting her eat. Hope seemed to really like it and while Kelley knew she was a good cook, this was a bigger ego boost than she got from her friends. "Glad you like it." 

"Can I like, keep you at my house?" Hope asked, a light tone to her voice. Hope finished her food first and then helped Kelley clean up before getting ready to buy her new booze. Just as they were about to leave, Christen came in with Julie. 

"Holy shit, that's Hope Solo," Julie said and Hope chuckled. "Christen, what is she doing in your apartment?" 

"You're Kelley's mystery date," Christen said, holding her hand out. "Nice seeing you again." 

"You too, Christen right?" Hope asked and Christen nodded. Hope shook Christen's hand and then she turned to Julie. Julie was gonna start saying something, but Kelley came running into the living room, wearing a Stanford hoodie and holding another one. Kelley held it out to Hope and the older woman raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm more of UW woman." 

"Just try it on," Kelley said and Hope pulled it on. It fit her fairly well, a little tighter by her shoulders, but Kelley thought it was perfect. "Great, now you have to go outside and wear it." 

"You're so weird," Hope said and Kelley pushed her out of the apartment. 

"She's buying booze for Thursday," Kelley said with a smile. "Oh and she's gonna be here Thursday." 

"I want a story explaining how this happened!" Julie yelled as Kelley ran outside. Christen tugged her back to her bedroom and shut the door, not knowing when Kelley and her date would be back. Kelley was surprised to see Hope still wearing the hoodie. 

"You can take it off if you don't like it," Kelley said and Hope shrugged. 

"It's kind of nice, even if purple is more my color," Hope said, leaning over the middle console to kiss Kelley. Hope drove them to a liquor store and they walked in together, Kelley tucked securely under Hope's arm. "So, what do you normally like to drink?" 

"Normally I have a beer or two with my dinner, but if I'm at Tobin and Alex's, it's like 8 because I'm not driving home and video games. At parties, we have a pretty even mix of things, it's beer, Alex brings Captain Morgan and tequila, Christen has a bottle of Fireball, Julie will drink anything after a couple of beers, and Tobin won't drink anything too strong," Kelley said and Hope nodded. They ended up coming out with about 3 bags and a 24 pack of some Swedish beer that Hope swore was the best beer in existence. "Thank you for this, you didn't have to buy me booze." 

"No, I saw what you pulled out of the fridge, it was sad. I'll see you Thursday," Hope said and Kelley sighed. "Unless you wanna come over or something tonight." 

"It's kind of early for that, so Thursday it is," Kelley said with a sad smile. Kelley leaned up to give Hope a kiss before going back into her apartment. She turned around to see Julie sitting by the door, barely getting back in time. "Hope!" 

"Yeah?" Hope asked, turning around. 

"JJ says bye," Kelley said and Hope chuckled. Julie scrambled up to her feet and waved at the former goalkeeper. Hope waved back at her and then went down to her car. 

"I'm so embarrassed," Julie said and Kelley shrugged. "She hooked up the fuck up though. Damn, I thought Lys bought fancy shit." 

"Are you forgetting Ashlyn's artisan phase?" Kelley asked and Christen poked her head out from the kitchen. 

"Do you mean last month?" Christen asked and Kelley nodded. "What's with the bags?" 

"My date bought booze for Thursday. I'm gonna head over to Tobin and Alex's, don't drink this," Kelley ordered and Christen nodded. 

* * *

"You really shouldn't look so surprised," Abby said, putting a hand on Hope's back. "I mean, most of that board played soccer and this can really help a lot of people Hope." 

"Still, I know damn well how the board feels about me, actually how a lot of people in this place feel," Hope said and Abby sighed. "I fucked up and nobody will ever let me forget it or let me move too far past it. I'm surprised you didn't deck me the second I walked in." 

"Sounds like a mess I don't need on my hands, but where are you working out?" Abby asked and Hope raised an eyebrow at her. "Actually you don't have to tell me Christie told me that you come in there all the time and work out/flirt with a college girl." 

"She graduated and don't you dare look at me like that because it is not like that," Hope said and Abby threw her hands up defensively. 

"One of these days, we can get piss drunk to celebrate this," Abby said and Hope shook her head. "You don't drink?" 

"I drink, but I don't get piss drunk anymore. It's part of this thing where I stay sober enough to not make any terrible decisions," Hope said and Abby laughed. "Although, I don't think I can necessarily do that sober." 

"I was gonna say," Abby said with a chuckle. "Well, either way, I will see you later Solo. Seriously, I'll buy you a beer and we can talk about how I can personally help you with this. Think of it as a way to apologize for running you out of town." 

"I don't remember that, but one of the best beers are free ones," Hope said and Abby left her. Hope walked out to the parking lot and dialed Sam's number, waiting for the Australian to pick up. "Come on, come on." 

_**"Hope, to what do I owe this pleasure?"**_ Sam asked, sounding chipper. 

"I promised you a drink, I have a proposition for you, and something to celebrate." Hope could hear shuffling on the other line and then a crash. "Are you free?" 

_**"Yeah, also your kid is gonna be rich from babysitting I swear. Okay, okay so $60 and we don't tell Carli that I'm going to get a beer at 11:30,"**_ Sam said and Hope could barely hear Zack's voice. _**"You drive a hard bargain, but $65 and maybe I'll find a Yankees jersey in the wash that I don't need. Okay Hope, I'll be there soon."**_

"Alright, tell me where you wanna meet up," Hope said before hanging up. She waited for Sam to text her an address and then she drove there, barely beating Sam inside. Hope ordered them each a beer, wings, and a few other things that she'd be working off with Kelley later. "Hi." 

"You're really happy," Sam said and Hope nodded. "So, what are we celebrating? Does it have to do with a certain youth soccer coach?" 

"Not quite yet, although she did invite me to hang out with her friends Thursday," Hope said and Sam smiled as she slapped Hope's shoulder. "What was that about?" 

"She invited you to meet her friends, hang out with them, that's huge Hope. You mentioned a proposition." 

"Soccer training academy, helps people get to the pros and maybe international level. I have a lot of connections in a lot of places, but I know that those people aren't necessarily always the right people for the job. I want you to come and help, I'll pay to get you some certification and then we can work out what you'll after that." It was obvious for Sam that Hope was nervous asking her about this. "Don't worry about costs or hours, I can handle all of that." 

"Yes, I'd love to, but I don't want it to take away a whole lot of time with Carli and the kids," Sam said and Hope nodded. "I don't want it to take away from your time with them either. Luke and Maddie love being around you and I think Zack will come around eventually." 

"I won't let it," Hope said and Sam nodded. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver." 

"No problem. Oh, and talk to Kelley, she's great with kids and is a really good at soccer. She's definitely worth checking out for this," Sam said and Hope nodded. Sam finished her beer and then left Hope to go back home. Hope finished her drink, got a cup of coffee, and then was on her way to her next meeting. 

* * *

"What was that about?" Zack asked and Sam got back in. "Oh, and where's my money for babysitting?" 

"$65," Sam said, handing the money to him. 

"Zack, give it back," Carli said and Zack sighed. "Where did you go?" 

"Out," Sam said, moving past Carli with the money. 

"She went drinking with Hope," Zack said and Sam turned around, eyes and mouth wide open. 

"Dude!" Sam yelled, throwing her hands up. "I would've snuck you the money in with the jersey." 

"How about we not keep things from me?" Carli said and Sam turned to her and pouted. "Nope, downstairs Sam, I'll there in a minute." 

"But," Sam tried, but Carli was already turned to Zack. 

"Zack, you're better than this. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that it's better for you to just tell me things instead of trying to hide it or lie. I know you hate it when I tell you this, but you're so much like Hope. You got a lot of the things that make her amazing, but you've got a couple of the things that made it hard to be together towards the end." 

"I don't have a drug problem," Zack stated coldly. 

"No you don't, but you like to hide things and go behind my back. That's gonna get you in more trouble than a lot of other things as you get older. So I'd learn to stop that shit now before it's too late and you're stuck wondering what the hell happened. Keep an eye on your siblings, I've got something else to deal with now," Carli said and Zack nodded. He was more than a little scared, there was a look in his mother's eyes that he had never seen before. Carli took a couple of deep breaths as she walked downstairs. Sam was waiting for her on the couch, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the table. "You could have told me." 

"I didn't want you to get mad at me," Sam said and Carli sat down next to her. "Eventually you'd realize that I'm exactly what you had been afraid of." 

"Afraid of?" Carli asked and Sam nodded. "No, you couldn't be something I'm afraid of Sam, never, just don't keep things from me baby." 

"I'm sorry," Sam said and Carli hugged her. "I only had one beer and I ate." 

"It's a drink, I'm not mad about that. What did you promise him?" Carli asked and Sam sighed. 

"$65 and Yankees jersey," Sam said and Carli stood up. "He's so not getting any of it now though because he didn't do any of what I told him to." 

"You're ridiculous, also no bribing." Sam nodded, letting Carli pull her onto her feet. "I love you Sam." 

"Oof, that's embarrassing. I love you too," Sam said and Carli rolled her eyes. Sam pulled her back onto the couch and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. "It's not a proper make up yet." 


	6. Chapter 6

"Just a fair warning, three of them were already drunk when I left," Kelley said as she opened the door to her apartment with Christen. It had gotten messier since Kelley had left, but it was also a lot quieter. "Where did JJ go?" 

"Christen's bedroom," Alyssa said and Kelley nodded. "Christen went too." 

"They're so fucking," Alex said, leaning over the side of the couch. "Are you guys fucking?" 

"No, we're not there yet," Kelley hissed and Alex laughed at her. She glanced at Tobin for help controlling Alex, but it seemed that Tobin was further gone than her girlfriend was. "So, I think there's maybe 3 semi-sober people here, us included. Can I get you a drink?" 

"Surprise me," Hope said with a smile. Kelley went to get her the drink and Alyssa scooted over to make some room for her. "Hi, I'm Hope." 

"Alyssa. I want you to know that this place was the cleanest I've ever seen a space Kelley lived in before everybody got here. Christen says she really likes you, so take good care of her," Alyssa said and Hope nodded. "Because if she gets heartbroken because of you, everybody here and then some are gonna kick your ass." 

"I've been run out of this place once before for breaking a heart. I don't remember it, but I won't do it again," Hope said and Alyssa nodded. "How do you know Kelley?" 

"JJ and Christen really," Alyssa answered and Hope nodded. "How did you guys meet?" 

"She's my son's soccer coach," Hope said and Alyssa nodded. "We talked a little and have been on a few dates here and there." 

"Drink, please stop asking Hope questions when I'm not here," Kelley said, handing Hope a beer. She sat down on Hope's lap and put her arm around the older woman's shoulders. "Did I tell you that you look hot?" 

"Did you do shots in the kitchen with Moe?" Alyssa asked and Kelley nodded. Alyssa swore under her breath as she got up to stop her girlfriend from getting completely wasted. 

"You did tell me that I look hot, twice already, but thank you," Hope answered and Kelley kissed the corner of her mouth. "Do you guys do this every week?" 

"We try to, sometimes more people come over, sometimes less. Sam comes sometimes, but she said she has to work early tomorrow, so she didn't. If you want we can go back into my room and watch a movie or something. This isn't as fun without Christen trying to keep JJ in check," Kelley said and Hope shrugged. "Alex, Tobin, we're going to my room for a bit." 

"Use protection!" Alex yelled out with a giggle. Kelley stood up and walked over to Alex, putting her hands on her friend's cheeks. "Not with your girlfriend around." 

"She's not my girlfriend yet and you need to shut up. Go to the kitchen and get some water," Kelley said before backing up and watching Alex go to Alyssa. Kelley sent Tobin to the kitchen for water as well and then took Hope back to her bedroom. Kelley knew that Alyssa would get to her drinking once everybody else was asleep and she'd probably only have about 3 more drinks before passing out in the leather recliner with Moe in her lap. 

"I feel kind of bad leaving her to take care of all the drunk ones. Drunk people can be a lot worse than children," Hope said and Kelley shrugged. 

"Alyssa is good with them and honestly, I'd be more worried about the fact that I haven't heard Allie all night. I mean, she was here when I left, but she's disappeared now," Kelley said and Hope raised an eyebrow at her. "I may have downed about 6 shots in the kitchen when I was getting you that beer." 

"Six shots in less than 10 minutes," Hope muttered under her breath. She remembered her partying days and how that would have been child's play on a really rough night. It sickened her a bit to think about that, but she realized that Kelley probably wasn't doing half of the bullshit that she was at the same time. "I used to drink like that, but it wasn't just drinking for me." 

"I personally don't do any drugs, but I think JJ smokes sometimes with these girls in her building. I don't think she has recently because normally there's stupid Snapchats and videos that get sent to group chats we're in," Kelley said and Hope nodded. "That didn't start until about a year ago though, JJ used to be super innocent and sweet. Christen says that Alex and I tainted her and that's why she acts like a fuckboy half the time." 

"It's okay, I taint things too," Hope said and Kelley turned on her TV. 

"Do you like slashers?" Kelley asked and Hope shrugged. 

"They're okay, haven't watched one in a long time," Hope answered and Kelley turned on Scream. "Is this older than you?" 

"Ha ha real funny." Kelley jumped back onto her bed and then made room for Hope. "I'm really happy you came over. Sorry we didn't get to hang out with everybody before they got drunk." 

"It's fine," Hope said and Kelley bit her lip as she looked up at Hope. Hope was glad that they weren't cuddling or else Kelley would have known just how weak Hope's resolve seemed to be. Hope herself was surprised that one look from Kelley managed to affect her, but she couldn't necessarily complain. "If there's a next time, I'll get here earlier." 

"There will be a next time I promise," Kelley said, turning back to the movie just as somebody was killed. "Brutal."

Hope wasn't sure when she had stopped watching the movie and began watching Kelley, but she wasn't complaining. It didn't take long for exhaustion to overcome Hope and she found herself falling asleep in Kelley's bed. The credits rolled and Kelley glanced down at Hope and smiled. The light from the television providing enough light for Kelley to see Hope sleeping. Everything that Hope normally didn't let show on her face was being presented subtly while she was asleep. Kelley recognized the look on Hope's face, it was the look of somebody who had dragged themselves through hell and back more times than they could count finally being able to lay down and let it go. Kelley turned the television off and let herself fall asleep as well. 

In the morning, Kelley was the first person in the entire house awake. She went to make the hangover cure that she'd discovered after a particularly brutal party at UCLA that she had crashed with Press her sophomore year. Kelley got that done and then started on making breakfast and coffee for everybody. The smell of coffee was enough to rouse Alex, Christen, Allie, and Alyssa from their slumber and then the smell of food was what woke Tobin and Moe up. Kelley got everything plated before she went to wake up Hope and Julie. Kelley woke Julie up first, wanting a moment or two with Hope before she went back out to see everybody else, mainly to warn her. 

"JJ, come on, wake up I made breakfast and coffee," Kelley said, jumping onto Christen's bed. Julie didn't move or make a sound, so Kelley grabbed onto the blankets that were covering Julie and ripped them off. Almost immediately, Kelley turned around and covered her eyes. "Whoa, dude what the fuck happened to you last night?" 

"Kelley, give me the blanket," Julie said and Kelley held it out towards her. Julie wrapped it around herself and Kelley slowly turned around again. "We aren't speaking of this. To. Anybody." 

"Noted, I'm going to wake Hope up now. Breakfast is ready," Kelley said, running out of Christen's room. Kelley was mortified and the mortification turned into pure fear whenever she noticed that Hope wasn't in her room anymore. Kelley ran into the kitchen to see the former professional soccer player sitting in the kitchen with the cup of coffee Kelley had been guarding just for her. "Hey, I was gonna wake you up." 

"Where were you then?" Christen asked, sounding a little nervous. 

"I woke JJ up." There was a look exchanged between the roommates that calmed Christen down. Her secret was safe with Kelley. "When do I need to take you home?" 

"Whenever, not exactly a schedule today," Hope said and Kelley smiled at that. Everybody's attention was drawn to Julie as she was heard shuffling down the hallway towards the kitchen, bumping into something, and letting out a creative string of expletives. Julie slowly walked into the kitchen, took the only plate left, and then walked into the living room to eat. Christen was the first done eating and she went into the living room to check on Julie. 

"You look rough," Christen said with a little smirk. 

"With everything I drank and then finishing off that bottle of devil juice with you, tends to be a bit rough," Julie snapped and Christen rubbed her back as they sat on the couch together. "Careful, somebody might begin to suspect." 

"As long as it's just suspicions," Christen said with a small smile. "Is Alyssa driving you back?" 

"I don't know, I think Moe and her are going on a road trip," Julie answered with a sigh. "I'll probably walk or catch a ride." 

* * *

"H-O-R-S-E, I win!" Sam exclaimed, running around Zack. "Ha." 

"Wow you beat a child," Zack said, unimpressed. "You gonna try for a baby next?" 

"Carli, Zack's being mean to me because I beat him!" Sam yelled, running into the house. Carli sighed as she turned around to see her son running to catch up with her girlfriend. 

"Well, she started it I swear," Zack tried defending himself and Carli just ignored both of them. Sam hopped over the back of the couch and onto Carli's lap, pressing her forehead against Carli's. "I'm just going back outside." 

"Bye," Sam said, waving at him. 

"You're an ass," Carli said with a fond smile. 

"Yeah, but you love me." Sam leaned in and kissed Carli. "Where's Maddie?" 

"Sleeping upstairs, as is Luke. The park really wore them out. I think it did you a bit too," Carli said and Sam yawned. "Go and take a nap, you've earned it." 

"I'm sleeping right here," Sam said, curled up on top of Carli. Carli held onto her and within the next couple of minutes, Sam was asleep. It was nice for about 30 minutes, but then there was a knocking on the door that woke Sam up. "Oh, a friend!" 

"Do I need to go?" Carli asked and Sam shook her head. Sam ran to the door and let Hope in before dragging her downstairs. 

"What was urgent?" Hope asked and Sam sat her down on the couch. 

"I wanted to know how last night with Kelley went," Sam said and Hope sighed. "Kelley's got a bunch of people to talk to about relationships and stuff. I'm not saying you don't have friends, but I wasn't sure if you do, so I decided that I'll be your friend if you don't. Also, I'd think it would be weird talking to Carli about your new relationship with Kelley." 

"Thank you Sam," Hope said and the Australian gave her a small nod. 

"Now, spill, I wanna know what happened," Sam said, leaning towards Hope a bit. 

"She picked me up at like 9:30, everybody seemed pretty drunk by then, so we went to her room to watch a movie. I fell asleep and then we had breakfast with everybody in the morning," Hope said and Sam sighed. "What?" 

"You haven't tapped it yet?" Sam seemed surprised. 

"When it happens, it happens," Hope said with a shrug. "I don't really feel the need to rush anything." 

"Do you like her?" Sam asked and Hope nodded. "That's good then. Do you see the relationship going very far?" 

"Hopefully we last, I don't know Sam. I mean, we have fun on the dates we've been on, but we don't know each other well enough to know how long things are gonna last. That's the scary part about all of this I guess, knowing I like her, but not knowing how long we get to be together." Hope's words resonated with Sam. Sam remembered being in the same place with Carli not too long ago. Even though they had been together for over a year at that point, Sam had felt like a completely separate part of Carli's life, the one away from her kids. Sam had understood where Carli had been coming from, keeping her separate like that, but it still hurt her more than she'd ever admit. "But I hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I'm also not going to mess this up like I did with Carli. I let myself get carried away by everything people were giving me because I was famous that I forgot why I was even playing professional soccer at that point." 

* * *

Kelley pulled up a stool from the kitchen and sat by the window, watching the sun begin to set. The past 24 hours for her had been really good. She had gotten to spend time with Hope. Being around Hope gave Kelley a buzz better than any alcohol ever could. It was scary, how quickly her feelings for Hope seemed to happen, but it was like an adrenaline rush for her. Kelley wasn't sure when they would start to buckle down and get serious, but she was looking forward to that. Kelley wasn't in love with Hope, but she could definitely see herself getting to that point. 

"Can I join you?" Christen asked, setting her keys down on a table. Kelley nodded and turned to face her roommate. She hadn't heard Christen come in, but then again, she was distracted by her thoughts about Hope. "So, um, this morning you kind of saw something..." 

"It's fine Chris, we don't have to talk about it. Actually, JJ told me not to talk about it to anybody," Kelley said and Christen was grateful for that. 

"It's just sex, so I guess there isn't anything to talk about," Christen said sadly. 

"You want more though," Kelley said and Christen nodded. "Does she?" 

"I doubt it, I drilled it into her head for about two weeks that it'd never be more. I'm a fucking asshole," Christen said and Kelley shook her head. "I was then and I ruined something for myself before it got to happen." 

"No, you were trying to protect yourself, shit happens. I would have done the same, hell I did the same for so long," Kelley said and Christen hugged her. "I like Hope." 

"I know you do, I'm happy for you Kel." 

"I don't think I'm in love with her yet, but I know that one day I will be," Kelley said with a small smile. "You know I think I finally get the butterflies thing." 

"I'm happy for you Kel, I really am." Christen kissed the side of Kelley's head and opened the window. Kelley watched as Christen stared out at the sky; she didn't have to see Christen's facial expression to know that she was trying to figure out the exact moment where things had stopped being so perfect in her life. Kelley felt bad about that, Christen had been so happy and then in a matter of seconds, everything that had been making her happy seemed to just go away. The worst part of it all was that Christen had befriended the very thing that had toppled her happiness as it was happening.


	7. Flashback

Hope sat on top of the crossbar and looked at the field in front of her. A couple of the lights were turned on, but it was pretty dark for the most part. Hope didn't mind that though, as long as they didn't go out and leave her sitting alone in total darkness. Hope looked at her phone and sighed, she wouldn't make it back in time for curfew, but then again, she was certain that the other girls being out in the town this late would distract from her late night practice session. Besides, trouble was something that seemed to come easily to Hope, so she knew how to handle it. Hope's heart did race a little bit as she saw a body approach the field. That panic settled as she realized that the person wasn't a coach or any sort of staff member, but instead a player. 

"Please tell me you're not drunk," Hope said, hopping down onto the ground. The girl shook her head and scoffed, as if she was offended that Hope thought she had gone out with the other girls to get drunk in secret. "Hey, you wouldn't be the only one." 

"Are you drunk?" Hope shook her head and held out her hand. 

"Hope Solo, soon to be best goalkeeper in the world," Hope introduced herself and the girl rolled her eyes as she shook her hand. 

"Carli Lloyd, I play for the age group just below yours. Weren't you a field player?" Carli asked and Hope nodded. "Why the sudden change?" 

"Abby was upset that I took all her goals," Hope said sarcastically. "Actually, there's not really a reason for it. I mean, they asked me if I was interested and then some British guy told me that he'd make sure that I was the goalkeeper everybody would remember." 

"You should probably get back before the other girls," Carli said and Hope shrugged. 

"They probably think I'm leading the pack honestly," Hope said and Carli sighed. "Also, you're one to talk. What are you doing out here?" 

"I couldn't sleep, so I was gonna take some shots," Carli said and Hope smiled at her. Hope grabbed athletic tape and her gloves before going back over to Carli. 

"It helps to have a keeper with you," Hope said and Carli started wrapping her wrists. The skin where Carli touched Hope tingled a little, but Hope didn't notice. Carli helped Hope get her gloves on and then tied her shoes a bit tighter before going out with her ball. Hope got into the position she'd been working with all week and then tried her hardest to block Carli's shots. It took a little getting used to, but Hope was beginning to really get the hang of it. After a couple of hours, both of them were pretty tired and Hope just fell back onto the grass. "You know there's a bed in the hotel right?" 

"I need a moment of rest," Hope said, yawning. "You can go ahead if you want." 

"No way, you'll totally fall asleep out here." Carli got onto the grass next to Hope and stared up at the stars. Hope could hear her muttering something and she glanced over to see Carli saying something quietly as she started up at the sky. Hope stared at her for a couple of minutes before clearing her throat. 

"What are you doing?" Hope asked and Carli looked over at Hope. 

"Counting stars, it's something I do when I can't sleep at night," Carli said and Hope nodded. "It's lame I know." 

"No, it's smart. There are much worse things to do when you can't sleep, I've seen people do them. Also I almost fall asleep when I have to count things normally," Hope joked awkwardly. Carli felt like there was something behind that joke, but she got the feeling that this was her ticket away from whatever that was, so she didn't say anything. Carli turned her head back so she could count the stars again and Hope switched between looking up at the sky and glancing at Carli. Hope never got very far with her counting because her eyes would wander to Carli and then she would lose her place and occasionally forget why she was still laying outside. Eventually, Carli fell asleep and from then on Hope just stared at her until she fell asleep herself. 

* * *

"Last day of the camp, gonna go say bye to your girlfriend?" Abby teased and Hope shoved her backwards. Since Hope and Carli had been found asleep on the fields together sleeping, their teammates had been teasing them nonstop. Hope didn't know for sure whether or not Carli was being teased, but Hope was and it was driving her crazy. "Hey, you're getting a little heated. Should I call Carli to help you cool down?" 

"Just fucking stop it already!" Hope yelled, pushing Abby back onto her own bed. Abby was shocked, Hope could look pretty angry on the field, but Abby didn't think she'd ever seen her that angry before. After a couple of seconds, Abby realized that it wasn't just anger that had caused Hope to shove her back. "Fuck this, I'm going for a walk." 

"Wait," Abby said, pulling Hope away from the door. "Something's wrong and I have a feeling I have a lot to apologize for." 

"I can't talk about it," Hope said and Abby frowned at her. Hope contemplated leaving again, but decided that if Abby had been her friend since she had started playing up a year with youth teams, then maybe she could be trusted. "If I tell you, you can't tell anybody, especially not Carli." 

"Of course, I can keep a secret," Abby said and Hope sat down on Abby's bed with her. "Take your time, no rush or anything." 

"Well, I'll start with I like Carli, like a lot, but I can't act on it," Hope said and Abby was about to ask why. "I, um, I'm different. I was born intersex, it's why I take showers in a different place than the rest of the team. It wouldn't matter if Carli liked girls or not because I'm not like that. You can't tell anybody Abby, I swear." 

"I won't," Abby said and Hope sniffled. "So, when everybody makes jokes about you and Carli being girlfriends and you get ticked off, is that why?" 

"Yeah, it's hard knowing that you don't have a real chance. Well, if I did, it'd be over as soon as she found out about..." 

"I don't think so, I think she really likes you. Carli is a good person, she wouldn't leave you because she's different and if she did, I'd fight her and Barnie, Cap, and Boxxy would too, I just know it," Abby promised and Hope gave her a little smile. "I'm sorry for starting the jokes. I should have listened to Cap when she told me not to." 

"It's cool Abby, you didn't know. There was no way you could have known, nobody else knows." 

"Well, I'm still sorry," Abby said and Hope got up from the bed. She finished packing and then went downstairs to make sure she didn't miss the van to the airport. Carli was downstairs talking to Abby when Hope came back into the hotel and Hope was scared for a moment. That fear was only intensified when they looked over at her, Carli giving her a nervous smile. Abby said something to make Carli laugh and then Carli walked over towards Hope. 

"I heard you had a rough morning," Carli said and Hope shrugged. "Well, hopefully your flight back home is better. Do you think you could call me when you landed?" 

"Definitely," Hope said and Carli handed her a piece of paper with a phone number and email address on it. "Are you going early?" 

"Right now actually, Cap and I are driving back to New Jersey together," Carli said and Hope frowned. "I'll see you later." 

"Yeah, next camp," Hope said and Carli hugged her. Hope was a little surprised by that, she had never seen Carli hug anybody before or suspected her of being the hugging type. Hope watched Carli walk away from her and to Christie's car before she went back to the lobby, Abby having saved her a spot on one of the small couches. "What did you say to her?" 

"That you were pretty upset about having to leave this place and that you'd never tell her, but you missed her a lot," Abby said and Hope wasn't sure if she wanted to hug her friend or punch her. "That's it I swear. Did you guys kiss?" 

"No, but she gave me a hug," Hope said and Abby cracked a little smile. "Thank you for that and everything. I needed to talk about that to somebody." 

"You need to talk again, you have my number," Abby said and Hope nodded. The two of them hung out in the lobby until Hope had to go back to Washington and Abby's mom had come to pick her up from the hotel. "I'll see you later, call me if you need anything or are in the area. We can hang out somewhere that isn't my house because it's crazy." 

"Alright and you should come to Seattle sometime, I can show you around," Hope said and Abby nodded. After that, they went their separate ways. Hope was dreading going back home, she always hated it, but the idea of getting to call Carli to check in with her later was exciting her a bit more than that dread was bringing her down.


	8. Chapter 8

Sam frowned as she looked at Carli on the couch. It was obvious that she was sick, but of course she wouldn't let anybody take care of her. Sam had pulled Zack aside and asked him to keep an eye on Luke and Maddie, stay out of Carli's hair, and just help her out when she needed it. He had agreed (without bribing) and Sam had promised him that she'd take all the kids out for dinner after Luke's soccer practice. The car was running, Zack had buckled up Maddie, Luke had proudly buckled himself up, and now all Sam had to do was check up on Carli one more time before she left for the practice. Sam wanted to ask how she was, but Carli seemed to be asleep. 

"Sam, you're gonna be late," Carli mumbled and Sam ran over to the couch and dropped down in front of Carli. "What are you doing?" 

"Are you okay?" Sam asked and Carli nodded. She opened her eyes and Sam kissed her forehead. "Do I need to carry you upstairs so you can sleep on the bed?" 

"I'm fine here and I can walk upstairs baby. Actually, I can go to Luke's practice too," Carli said and Sam held her back on the couch. "Sam, for real, let me get up." 

"No, you are sick. You woke up at 3 this morning throwing up, I had to pick you up less than a mile from our house at 5:30 because you went on a run and threw up so badly I thought you were gonna die for a minute or two, and Zack told me when I got home how bad today has been. Please, for me, stay home, take a nap, and when we get back, accept the soup and cuddles. For me?" 

"Fine, I'll take a nap," Carli agreed and Sam smiled, kissing her forehead. "If I'm so sick, why do you keep kissing me?" 

"I haven't gotten a real kiss from you yet," Sam countered and Carli yawned. "Have a nice nap, I need to run a small child to a soccer field." 

"I love you Sammy," Carli said and Sam smiled at the nickname. Carli never called Sam that unless she was drunk or something along those lines. Sam was certain that Carli called her Samantha more than she called her Sammy, but then again, Sam did have a penchant for getting in trouble sometimes. 

"I love you too honey," Sam said and Carli pushed her back. Sam ran out to the car and drove everybody to the park. Luke was telling Zack about something while holding a sleeping Maddie's hand and Zack was listening, but remained on the lookout for Sam. "Everybody buckled?" 

"Yep," Zack said and Sam pulled out of the driveway. "How's mom doing?" 

"She agreed to take a nap. If she isn't upstairs by the time we get back, I'll take her upstairs, so I want you to get them asleep downstairs and then you can get me to take them upstairs or you can all sleep downstairs," Sam said and Zack nodded. "Did Maddie get a nap?" 

"No, mom was coughing and so she refused to leave her alone all day," Zack said and Sam frowned, glancing back at the toddler. "I think it really scared her." 

"Good thing she didn't come with me to pick Carli up," Sam said and Zack nodded. "You're all pretty lucky you didn't come with." 

"She told me what happened," Zack said, cringing a little. Sam sighed and turned up the radio, effectively ending the conversation. Luke was the first out of the car, running towards his coaches with Zack hot on his trail. Sam got Maddie up and out of the car, deciding that it would be best for the girl to not sleep so close to her bedtime. Maddie was tired though, keeping her head on Sam's shoulder and chewing on her sleeve as they sat and watched Luke warm up. "Hey Sam, can I go with my friends and take a walk?" 

"Sure, but be back here before practice ends," Sam said and Zack ran off to meet up with his friends. 

"Look at you so domestic," Kelley teased as she sat down next to Sam. "Before you make a comment about how I should be coaching and not giving you crap, I am coaching from afar. They're gonna scrimmage and I'm supposed to watch to make sure that it's not a disaster." 

"Besides, who needs you when Ash is in the goal with Luke?" Sam teased and Kelley pouted. 

"Not nice sorry Sammy," Maddie said and Sam sighed. "Not nice sorry Sammy." 

"Kevin, I am sorry for being mean to you," Sam said and Maddie sat up a little. "Kev was mean to me too Maddie." 

"Kelley sorry," Maddie demanded and Kelley sighed. 

"Sam, I am very sorry that I was mean to you. Like, you can't imagine how sorry I am," Kelley said facetiously. Sam waited until Maddie wasn't paying attention to punch Kelley in the arm and Kelley hit her back. "What are you guys doing after this?" 

"I'm getting us fast food and soup for Carli," Sam said and Kelley looked confused for a moment. "She got sick. I made her stay home and take a nap." 

"Mommy sick," Maddie echoed and Kelley nodded. 

"That's sad," Kelley said and Maddie nodded. "I'm glad you're not sick too. I don't know what I'd do if my buddy wasn't here." 

"Actually coach," Sam said and Kelley glared at her. "Hey Mads, I think that's Alex and Syd over there." 

"Cash?" Maddie asked, looking forward to seeing Sydney's son. Sam shrugged and let Maddie down once it was certain that Alex and Sydney were coming over towards them. Maddie ran as fast as she could to over to Sydney, who immediately picked up the little girl. "Cash?" 

"They're playing at the park," Sydney said and Maddie frowned. Maddie didn't cry, but she definitely looked like she was going to until Dom got back with Maddie's friends. "Did you guys have fun?" 

"I'd like to think so," Dom said, setting both his son and Alex's down on the grass. Cassius immediately walked over to Maddie and Patrick followed him. "So, how's the asshole been?" 

"I don't know, we don't talk anymore. Since he found out that I was going to move in with Tobin, he threw a fit. I've tried texting and calling, but they get ignored," Alex said and Dom sighed. "Patrick has asked me when he gets to go see him, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon if he doesn't answer me." 

"Let's go to his house," Sydney said and Alex raised an eyebrow at her. "Sam, can you come with us for muscle?" 

"Um, I guess," Sam said, getting up. The three women walked out to the parking lot and once they were on the road, Sam realized she didn't know where they were going. "Where are we going?" 

"To see why I haven't gotten a text back from Ricky's father," Alex said and Sam nodded. It wasn't a terribly long drive, Alex wouldn't have taken Sam if she thought it would take too long. Sydney pulled into the driveway as much as she could and they got out of the car. "This gate wasn't here before." 

"I doubt the now sold 'for sale' sign was either," Sydney said and Alex turned to see what she was talking about. "Hey, don't you get like half of whatever this was sold for?" 

"Yeah, I do, it was signed off to me. I let him live here because he agreed to pay the bills for it, but I didn't give him permission to sell it," Alex said, getting angry. "Where the fuck is he now?" 

"Dom said that he hasn't seen him come into work in the past week and a half," Sydney said and Alex just stormed off to the car. Sydney followed her and drove them back to the park. "Maybe he's just on vacation." 

"No he moved back to Los Angeles. We kept fighting about it and I told him no, that I wanted to stay here because Ricky was really enjoying it here and this was a much safer place to raise a kid. I can't fucking believe he did this," Alex fumed and Sydney's grip on the steering wheel tightened. They got back to the park just as practice was ending and Alex filled Dom in on what had most likely happened while Sam and Sydney rounded up the smaller children. 

"I don't really know Carli all that well, but if you do that to her, I'll hunt you down and seriously hurt you," Sydney said and Sam nodded. 

"I could never do that to Carli, I love her too much," Sam promised and Sydney nodded. "I mean, we don't have kids together, but I love her kids, sometimes it feels like they're mine." 

"Syd, come on let's go," Dom said and Sydney said bye to Sam and left. Sam got all of Carli's kids into the car and then drove them to get something quick to eat. She made an extra stop to get Carli some soup from the deli before driving a little faster than normal home. Zack kept his siblings occupied downstairs and Sam went upstairs to find Carli laying on the bed. 

"What is that smell?" Carli asked, crinkling her nose a bit. Sam handed Carli the soup container and plastic spoon before sitting on the edge of the bed with her fast food. Carli glanced at it and scoffed, knowing that Sam would eat all that, but wondering how she managed to. "Were they good?" 

"Yeah, they were good," Sam answered and Carli was relieved. Sam and Carli ate in a comfortable silence, Sam threw away their trash, and then came back to hold Caril until she fell asleep again. 

* * *

"Bean, can I ask you a question?" Julie asked as she sat down in front of her friend. Morgan looked up at her and nodded. "Are you still mad at me for when Alyssa and I got into that fight like a month and a half ago?" 

"You hit my girlfriend, broke my coffee table, and it's more than just that Julie. You act like a dick to everybody all the time. Do you even know the people you've hurt while you've been fucking around?" Morgan asked, leaning forward a bit. "Alyssa got us an apartment on the top floor of the building and by the time we get off work, most of my stuff will be out of your apartment. I won't be coming back there myself and don't you dare try to come up to mine." 

Julie didn't respond to her, instead just getting up from the table and walking away. She went to the back so she could take inventory and cry in peace. Julie wanted to leave it all and go back home to Arizona, where her parents would love her and she try to stop hurting people she loved. Although, she was certain that if she went back home, all she'd do is hurt her parents. After all, they still thought that she was with Zach and well, straight. Julie didn't take a break until she was finished with the inventory and when she did get done, it was about 10:30 in the morning, nearly 5 hours past when her shift was supposed to end. Julie made sure it didn't look like she had been crying, clocked out, bought some stuff to take home, and then went back to her apartment building. 

"Shit," Julie said as she looked around her apartment. She had known that most of the stuff in the apartment had been Morgan's, but she hadn't realized just how much of the practical shit hadn't been hers. She walked into the kitchen and put up the groceries she had bought which had consisted mainly of beer, Hot Pockets, and about 3 different kinds of cookies. Julie didn't want to fall asleep only to wake up alone, so she went somewhere that she hoped she'd be accepted. Julie locked up her apartment and walked across the hallway to Sofia's. She knocked a couple of times and was surprised to see Christen opening the door. 

"Who is it?" Sofia yelled and Christen moved aside so that Sofia could see her. Both Sofia and Christen looked guilty, but Julie ignored the reason behind that. "Um, hey, when did you get home?" 

"Like 10 minutes ago," Julie said and Christen sighed. "You guys moved her stuff out for her with Alyssa, I figured." 

"Are you going to look for a new roommate?" Sofia asked and Julie shook her head. "Why?" 

"I'll keep rent payments up here as long as I can, but when I can't I'll just go back to my parents' place. It gets pretty cold up here sometimes," Julie said nonchalantly. Julie's words felt like a punch to Christen's gut. Julie's job provided fairly good pay, but she'd never had to pay all of the rent and bills by herself before, so there was no telling whether or not she'd be staying in Jersey for long. Christen didn't want Julie to go back to Arizona where she was certain the blonde wouldn't text her or anybody back here again. 

"If it ever gets to the point where you can't keep paying, tell me. Seriously, I don't want to watch you be forced across the country because of money," Christen said and Julie shrugged. 

"Do you want to come in?" Sofia asked and Julie shrugged. Sofia and Christen pulled her in and Julie immediately went over to the bean bag chair that Vanessa had bought and laid down in it. "We can get you come furniture if you need it." 

"No thanks, I'm just gonna wait it out," Julie said and Sofia glanced over at Christen. "Do you have anything I can take home and smoke? I'll pay you with money this time." 

"Is that the best idea right now?" Sofia asked and Julie dug about $50 out of her pocket. Sofia took the money and gave Julie what she wanted, not bothering to argue with her about this. It was safer for Julie to get high alone than it was for her to drink alone, with nobody to stop her from giving herself alcohol poisoning. "Let's go get brunch." 

"Dinner," Julie corrected and Christen pulled her onto her feet. Sofia and Christen took Julie out to get something to eat. "Don't you guys have work?" 

"I go in at noon," Sofia said, checking her watch. "That's why we're eating here." 

"Chris?" Julie asked and Christen shook her head. 

"I don't have any deadlines right now," Christen said and Julie yawned. "You look tired though, maybe sleep and then you can smoke tomorrow after work." 

"I, uh, don't want to sleep in my apartment," Julie said and Christen raised an eyebrow at her. "I'll wake up and I'll be all alone. I don't want that. I should just go home. They'll transfer me to one of the stores back home and it's not the worst drive I've made before." 

"I won't be there to supply you with weed if you move," Sofia said and Julie took a sip of her soda and shrugged. "Also, do you really think Alyssa is going to let you leave?" 

"Alyssa and Moe hate me because I'm an asshole," Julie pointed out and Christen punched her in the chest. "Ow!" 

"They don't hate you, they're mad at you. Morgan is more mad at you than Alyssa is. After you were supposed to get there, Alyssa waited to talk to you for about an hour. Morgan went straight upstairs, I think she's really done with you right now, but Alyssa wants to talk to you." Christen spoke softly and Julie looked like she wanted to cry. "Do you want to come back to my apartment and sleep there or I can stay with you until you go to work." 

"I go in at midnight and leave at 2:30 tomorrow," Julie said and Christen gave her a look. "You don't want to stay that long, there's no way." 

"I'll get you some food for your apartment after this and then we'll stay there together for a couple of days," Christen said and Julie thanked her. She was excited about getting to spend more time with Christen than she normally had been getting to. For the first time that day, Julie actually felt kind of happy, but then again, Christen always, _always,_ had that effect on her.


	9. Chapter 9

Hope double checked that her house was clean before grabbing her car keys and walking out of her house. Sam had called Hope about three days ago asking if there was a time when she could pick up all three kids and take care of them for a couple of days. Hope had immediately agreed, but it had taken a lot of bribery with Zack and convincing with Carli for it to finally happen. Hope was nervous about having Zack, Luke, and Maddie spending the night, but they all had places to sleep. Technically, it was a couch, a guest bed, and then Carli told Hope that Maddie and Luke could sleep in her bed with her if they wanted to. Zack technically could too, but Hope didn't need Carli to tell her that he didn't want to, she was certain he'd do it enough times on his own. 

"Mama!" Maddie squealed as she ran over to Hope. Hope was surprised that her daughter was so cheerful. According to Sam, she had been crying over not getting to see Carli a lot and hearing all of the puking she'd been doing. Hope picked up the little girl and before she could go inside, both Luke and Zack were walking out of the house followed by Sam and a miserable, but familiar looking Carli. 

"Zack, can you hold Maddie for a minute or two?" Hope asked and Zack took his little sister from Hope. Hope grabbed onto Carli's arm and dragged her away from everybody else. "Can you handle having 4 kids Carli?" 

"What do you mean?" Carli asked and Hope cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'm not pregnant." 

"I may have been a shitty wife, but I was there for all three pregnancies and I know when you're pregnant. Are you going to the doctor's?" Hope asked and Carli shook her head. "Go to the clinic or someplace tomorrow and get a test done. It'll say you're pregnant." 

"I am not pregnant and don't say anything to them or Sam. Buy me a couple of tests and if anything happens, I'll go to a doctor to get a more official test," Carli promised and Hope nodded, hugging her. 

"It'll be so nice to get to tell you that I told you so," Hope said, turning around. Carli pushed her and Hope scoffed as she walked back to her car. Sam was putting in the carseats and not having too much trouble, she had obviously gotten some practice over her relationship with Carli. Hope wasn't sure whether or not she could still put in seats like that or if she ever honestly could. "You're getting good at this." 

"Youtube and I used to spend my breaks doing this for about a month," Sam admitted and Hope chuckled. "How far along are you on your soccer academy?" 

"I'm at the part where I have a few volunteers, about a month and a half left on the fields maintenance, no indoor facility yet, and I need to order equipment." Hope sighed heavily. "It'll be about three months at the very least before I can start. I won't do it in the winter until I can get an indoor facility built, but eventually. These things take time and Carli did tell me to work on my patience." 

"She tells me that too sometimes, mainly at dinner or when I'm trying to rush the kids to go to bed," Sam said before realizing who she had told the last part to. "Please do not kick my ass for that. I meant no disrespect, I'd never disrespect Carli, I swear." 

"It's fine, we were married Sam, you aren't the only one who gets in moods like that," Hope said and Sam shuddered a little at the thought of Carli's last mood. When Carli got better, Sam was definitely going to have to plan something really special for them. "The kids really like you. Actually more of them like you than me." 

"Zack will come around eventually, you can't be angry at somebody forever," Sam promised and Hope shrugged. "He doesn't realize it, but you did give up a lot for him, for all of them. You sacrificed everything you loved so that none of them would ever have to go without something they needed. It's noble." 

"Yeah, nothing says noble like smoking weed on a yacht with a bunch of coked out supermodels," Hope said and Sam raised an eyebrow at her. "Victoria's Secret party right after everything with Carli began to go to shit. We were still married and I kept that secret for almost a year before we got divorced." 

"You've lived a life Solo," Sam said and Hope nodded. 

"Trust me, you don't know the half of it. Amazing what you can really get yourself into when you give up," Hope said with a smile and Sam felt her stomach churn. Sam stood up and began to walk away from Hope, but then Hope stopped her. "Take care of Carli, be better to her than I was at my best, and don't let yourself get near my fucking worst." 

"I don't know what your worst was," Sam said and Hope sighed. 

"Another time, at my house, where I can get piss drunk without the chance of embarrassing myself," Hope said and Sam nodded. "You'll want a drink too, it's not a fun experience to hear about." 

"Alright, well, one day," Sam said, a little scared. Hope walked back up with her to where Carli and the kids were standing. Hope let Maddie and Luke say bye first before taking them to the car before giving Zack a moment without her before he was stuck with her for at least one night. 

"Are you guys excited?" Hope asked and Luke nodded enthusiastically. "Maddie, do you want to stay with me or did you want to go with Abby?" 

"You," Maddie said, resting her head on Hope's shoulder. Luke buckled himself up proudly, making sure that Hope watched him, and Hope buckled up Maddie. Hope waved at Carli and Sam before they went inside and Zack got in the passenger's seat. 

"I thought you had a cooler car," Zack said as he looked around it. Hope knew that he was talking about the classic, grey sex mobile that was sitting in her garage under a tarp because it was supposed to rain and Hope had paid a lot of money for that paint job. Besides, Hope might have realized that her car before wasn't exactly safe for kids, so she went out and bought a safer one. "Mom likes that car." 

"It's a nice car, so I have it put up until the weather says it isn't gonna rain," Hope said and Zack sighed. "What?" 

"You have that badass car and you won't even use it. What a shame," Zack said. Hope knew that tone of voice, but she'd never heard anybody else use it. That was the tone she used when she wanted Carli to do something, but needed Carli to figure it out on her own. 

"Does Carli let you swear?" Hope asked and Zack looked down. She glanced back at Luke and Maddie, sighed in relief when she realized that they hadn't heard him, and then turned back to Zack once they got to a stop light. "How about at my house we have a rule that you can say what you hear me say?" 

"So, if I hear you swear, I can swear too?" Zack asked and Hope nodded. "Do YouTube videos of you having tantrums count?" 

"Nope, you have to hear me say it that day for it to count," Hope said and Zack sighed. "It'll help me to watch my mouth around them more." 

"I've seen the fight," Zack said and Hope groaned. "What was that even about?" 

"Remind me when Luke and Maddie go to sleep and we can talk about it. I mean, if you've seen the video you've heard the things I said and Google is a thing," Hope said. Zack noticed that her entire body had tensed up a little bit at the mention of the fight. Zack had noticed that if somebody wasn't a fan of his mom's and didn't like her, like his Aunt Abby, when arguing with his mom about her, they would bring up the mention of Hope getting into a heated fight with a reporter outside of a club. There was no footage aside from CCTV from before the fight, but there was the physical fight and then the two of them getting arrested after that. 

"Um, okay," Zack hesitantly agreed. Carli had told him thousands of times that no matter what anybody said or had led him to believe, Hope wasn't a violent person. She may have come off as being emotionally closed off, but if the wrong person hit the wrong nerve, they'd soon find out that she was actually very intense with her emotions. "What are we going to do at your house?" 

"I don't really have a lot for you to do because I'm not sure what you like, but there's a pool and a goal in the backyard," Hope offered and Zack shrugged. "You don't play soccer do you?" 

"I used to, but I, uh, quit. I play basketball and baseball now," Zack said and Hope nodded. She took a turn away from her house and began driving towards the store. Luke looked confused, noticing that this wasn't the way towards Hope's house. 

"Where are we going?" Luke asked, leaning forward as much as he could. 

"Getting some stuff for Zack and then some food because I don't know what you guys eat," Hope said and Zack gave her a look. "Maybe I'll get some stuff to make dinner too." 

"Mommy likes the piss-ghetto," Luke said and Zack sighed. 

"Spaghetti Luke, spaghetti," Zack corrected and Hope chuckled. "What?" 

"You used to drive Carli crazy mispronouncing things. It was kind of Abby's and my fault. We used to tell you how to say things in the wrongest way possible," Hope said and Zack sighed. 

"You know I was in a speech therapy class for two years?" Zack asked and Hope nodded. 

"Carli split the bill between us and then Abby sent me her half of it." Hope pulled into the grocery store parking lot and got Luke and Maddie out of the back while Zack went to get a cart. Maddie rode in the front part made for little kids and Luke held Zack's hand. Hope got their food picked out first and then went back to find a basketball goal to put on the outside of the garage where the pavement was. 

"You can't just buy a basketball goal," Zack said as Hope started looking at some. 

"Why not?" Hope asked and Zack couldn't think of a good reason. "I mean, dude, I'm rich. I mean, if the money gets tight, all I have to do is an interview or two and I get a nice paycheck in the mail. I get royalties from that book my publicist made me write before I retired. If I really need to, I'll write another one about what I've been doing for so long. There's options if I really need money, but I've got more than enough right now." 

"She has a point," Luke said and Zack sighed. "Besides, I wanna see her break your ankles, crossed over style." 

"Cross up Luke," Zack politely corrected and Luke brushed it off. "Hope played soccer, not basketball." 

"Actually, I could have gone to college for either. Also, you're looking at the four time Scott Rehab Center Basketball Player of the Month," Hope said proudly. "I will spare you the embarrassment." 

"No, I want to see if you can actually beat me and then maybe Sam," Zack said and Hope smiled. "She used to suck, but I think she secretly practices." 

"Alright, we'll see what happens. Get a ball or two and we can get going," Hope said as an associate came over to help them. Zack was surprised by how easy it was being around Hope when he listened to Carli and gave her a chance. He was still really mad about everything that she did, but he also was beginning to understand that he was too young to know why she did it or what happened before then. Zack hadn't realized how much Hope's house had changed since the last time he'd been there. It was obvious that Maddie and Luke had been there quite a bit, there was all sorts of stuff just around that both of them liked playing with or had wanted at home. Zack realized that Hope was not the responsible, let's think about why we're getting you this thing type of parent like Carli tended to be. Zack remembered the 4 years he had waited to get a gaming console, Hope would have just went out and gotten it then and there. Hope seemed to think more freely about money, but then again, he knew that she must have had a ton of it. Supposed yacht parties, supermodel "girlfriends" and a drug problem tended to get expensive. 

"When do we get our own rooms?" Luke asked and Hope shrugged. 

"When I'm not so busy," Hope said and Luke sighed. "Hey, chin up buddy. It'll get done, I promise, and it'll happen before the summer ends." 

"Okay, but where is Zack gonna sleep?" Luke asked and Hope shrugged. 

"Where does Zack want to sleep?" Hope asked her eldest son and he shrugged. 

"You can sleep in Hope's bed, it's giagantanormus," Luke said and Hope chuckled at him. 

"There's also a guest room upstairs, a room down here with a couch, and then eventually the basement will be cleared out enough to put a bed and TV," Hope told him and he nodded. 

"I'll take the guest room," Zack said and Luke pouted. "What?" 

"Hope hasn't sprayed for monsters there because she doesn't have any monster spray," Luke said and Zack realized he wasn't getting an option to where he was sleeping. Luke gave Zack a tour of Hope's house while Hope laid on the floor and colored with Maddie. "Can we show him the car place? The big one." 

"Yeah, we can go to the big garage," Hope said, picking Maddie up. Maddie giggled as Hope slung her over her shoulder. "Do you want to take the main road or the trail?" 

"Do you have the buggy yet?" Luke asked and Hope nodded. "Trail. It's cool." 

"I bet," Zack said, a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Hope took them just past the pool to a little carport with a dune buggy in it. Luke ran to the passenger's side and Hope gave Maddie to Zack. Zack buckled her into the back and then buckled himself in. 

"This is really nice," Zack said and Hope nodded. "Could use a paint job though, this is a terrible color. Why yellow?" 

"Because the person who sold it to me is a jackass," Hope said and Luke's eyes widened. 

"Those are slap words, Mommy slaps Sammy when she says then," Luke said and Hope shrugged it off. Hope started it and ran her fingers over the part just above the steering wheel to feel the vibrations from the purr of the engine. Zack looked at everything on the way to the "big garage" as Luke referred to it. He noticed the four fields that were being worked on, two larger ones and two smaller ones, and then the area that was currently being cleared. There wasn't a whole lot else happening on the way there, but he did notice a junkyard being cleared out. 

"This doesn't say Solo on it," Zack pointed out and Hope nodded. 

"I know, it didn't belong to that side of the family's," Hope told him as she unlocked the door. "It's gonna be hot, the AC is broken and I haven't gotten around to fixing it." 

"Turn on the big fan!" Luke yelled and Hope turned on the lights and then flicked on the switch for the overhead fans. Zack looked around, mainly seeing a few vehicles covered by tarps or sheets and an uncovered 1950s Ford truck. 

"Whoa, where did you get this?" Zack asked, impressed by the surface condition. "This looks great. Is it a show car?" 

"Sort of, it was getting fixed up to be. When I bought this place, I got the cars in it and in the junkyard. I've sold quite a bit of it to people looking to recycle, but there have been a few useful things out there. If you want, we can finish this up. It's pretty important," Hope said and Zack excitedly nodded. 

"I don't really know how, but I'm a fast learner, especially with hands-on stuff," Zack said, rambling a little bit. Hope smiled and popped the hood, pushing it up so Zack could look at it. "You're missing some stuff." 

"I'm in the process of replacing what had to be gutted," Hope said and Zack nodded. They spent about 30 more minutes in the garage, Hope showing Zack the cars that had been covered before they went back. Zack played outside with Maddie and Luke at the goal in the backyard while Hope made them pizza. 

"Why is this so good?" Zack asked and Hope let a few responses run through her head. 

"In high school and college I worked at a pizza place. Although, this is what my grandma made me when I was little, but it's not at good. I can't get the same cheese up here that she did. I'll take you guys to Washington so we can get the full effect," Hope told him. Zack noticed that Hope's eyes got different when she was talking about things she loved like Washington and her projects. The meal went smoothly, Luke and Maddie went to watch a movie in the living room while Hope cleaned up and Zack sat in the kitchen, sort of helping. Hope's phone vibrated next to him on the table and he glanced down at it. 

**'Call me babe' - Kelley**

"Who's Kelley?" Zack asked. 

"Luke's soccer coach," Hope said, unsure of what he was asking. 

"Well, she wants you to call her babe," Zack said and Hope spun around so fast she almost fell. "Are you guys dating?" 

"Yes, but like, don't tell them. We're still dating at this point, nothing serious. I don't know how long we'll stick together," Hope said and Zack thought she sounded nervous. "It doesn't bother you does it?" 

"I mean, isn't she like, younger than you?" Zack asked and Hope nodded. "Do you think you'll get married to her?" 

"We've been dating for like a month and a week, too early to think about marriage. I hadn't even figured out how I was going to tell you guys," Hope said, grabbing her phone. 

"Are you gonna call her?" Zack asked and Hope nodded. 

"When they fall asleep," Hope said and Zack walked out of the kitchen. "Or now." Hope dialed Kelley's number and sat on the counter, opening the can of soda she had either set out earlier and forgotten about or never actually put in the fridge. 

_**"Hey sexy."**_ Hope chuckled at how Kelley had answered her phone. _**"What's up?"**_

"Just finished dinner," Hope said with a little smile. Kelley could hear it in her voice, something Kelley was proud of herself for picking up. She had spoken with Hope on the phone every single night for the past two weeks and she had begun to notice a lot of different things about her voice that meant different things. "What are you doing?" 

_**"Christen is at JJ's and I'm bored. Do you want to come over?"**_ Kelley asked and Hope wanted to, but she couldn't. 

"I would love that, but Carli's sick so I'm on kid duty," Hope said and Kelley sighed. "I'm sorry." 

_**"Don't be, you do your thing tonight, but sometime I would like us to have a movie night or something. So, how's it going with the kids there?"** _

"Great, Zack seems to have opened up a lot more than usual. Luke is obviously really excited about that. Zack knows we're dating now. Did you know I'm really bad about leaving my phone where people can see my message notifications?" 

_**"No, but it's good to know that. I wouldn't want to scar your kid by sending something scandalous."** _

"Carli would kick our asses." 

_**"She's kind of scary honestly."** _

"Very." 

_**"Well, I should let you go. I'll call you tomorrow night. Bye."** _

"Bye Kelley," Hope said before she hung up. She checked the time, let Luke and Maddie finish their movie, got them ready for bed, and then put them to bed. Once they were asleep, Hope came downstairs to see Zack watching a WNBA game. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm impressed." 

"Why?" Zack asked as Hope settled on the couch. 

"There are a lot of guys who just don't give women's sports the time of day," Hope said and Zack shrugged. "Do you have a favorite team?" 

"Mystics," Zack said and Hope shook her head. "They're so good, I mean have you seen Delle Donne play?" 

"I have and she's great, but even though their season isn't as good as it was last year, Storm," Hope said proudly. 

"Of course you would pick that team," Zack said and Hope tuned in a bit more to the game. "I bet it's Seattle everything with you." 

"Pretty much," Hope said. 

"Do you miss it there?" 

"Please don't say this, but fuck yeah. I miss so much about Washington and as long as I'm away I always will, but at the same time, I doubt I could move back there full time. Especially not when I have so much more for me here." 

"Here?" 

"Yeah, Carli's here, you and your siblings are here, and eventually, Kelley is going to be one more thing for me here that Seattle doesn't," Hope said and Zack nodded. "I miss Seattle and Washington all the time, but the really important things for me are here in Jersey." 


	10. Chapter 10

"Carli, if it's just us, why am I getting all dressed up?" Sam asked, looking at the slacks and nice shirt that Carli had set out for her. Carli walked out of their bathroom, her hair wet and her body wrapped in a towel. "I mean, you're not even dressed yet." 

"Sam, just please, let me have this," Carli pleaded with her girlfriend and Sam nodded. "Thank you." 

"No problem," Sam said and Carli gave her a little smile. Carli walked over to their dresser and pulled out a bra, underwear, and then grabbed the dress that was sitting on the top of it. "Hey, not so fast." 

"Sam, dinner is literally sitting on the stove waiting to be eaten. Normally you're in more of a hurry in these situations," Carli said and Sam gave her a smirk. "Maybe after dinner." 

"This is not fair," Sam said as Carli dropped the towel. Sam pouted and crossed her arms over her chest as Carli got dressed, not paying attention to her girlfriend. 

"Sam, you have until I get this zipped to get dressed or else you aren't getting any for at least a month," Carli said and Sam's eyes widened. She contemplated just laying there for a moment or two longer, but then realized that Carli definitely would do that to her. It wouldn't be a whole month, but it would be long enough for Sam to have gotten the message. It was never a full month, the longest it'd ever actually been was 26 days and Sam thought she was gonna explode from sexual frustration by the end of it. Sam had been both blessed and cursed with Carli. Carli seemed to understand that Sam had quite the libido and never got mad or annoyed with Sam for being turned on. That also meant that Sam was even worse with being sexually frustrated than she had been before. 

"Right, sorry," Sam said quietly as she got up and quickly got dressed. She got behind Carli and zipped her dress up. Carli looked at herself in the mirror before turning to Sam and kissing her softly. 

"Thank you," Carli said and Sam laid her head on Carli's shoulder. "How was work?" 

"Long," Sam said. Carli knew she had been more exhausted than normal lately. Sam had a tendency not to change the time she went to bed for almost anything. Unfortunately for her, she had been promoted at the sporting goods store and gotten a position as an opener. That meant she had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready and she normally left around 6 to come home at 3, play with Luke or Maddie, and then take Luke to soccer practice most nights. "Do you know how happy I was to see you when I got home?" 

"I was happy to see you too, it's not getting to work from home if you don't come back around noon for a sandwich and a makeout session on the couch," Carli joked and Sam whined. "It's okay baby, tomorrow I'll go up and see you during lunch. I can bring you something if you want." 

"I already packed my lunch," Sam said sadly. "But you should still come see me." 

"Let's get something to eat and then you're going to bed," Carli said and Sam didn't argue with her. They walked downstairs and Carli set everything up perfectly before joining Sam. "So, remember when Hope came over and picked the kids up a couple weeks ago?" 

"Yeah," Sam said, pushing the vegetables around on her plate. 

"Sam, you have to eat those too," Carli told her sternly and Sam sighed. "Anyways, well, she said something and it got me thinking. She came back when Abby took the kids to the zoo the next weekend. I went to the doctor's after that and I think I'm ready to tell you." 

"I went to the zoo too, I'm not a kid," Sam muttered under her breath. Carli rolled her eyes and Sam yawned. "Wait, why did you have to go to the doctor?" 

"Sam, it wasn't a really long stomach bug, it was morning sickness. I'm pregnant," Carli said and Sam's eyes started watering. Carli wasn't sure what to expect, but she hadn't expected that. "Sam?" 

"Y-you're pregnant?" Sam asked and Carli nodded. "I did that?" 

"Of course you did, nobody else has touched me since I met you," Carli said and Sam smiled a little at that. "I was thinking that we move Zack to the attic, Luke into Zack's old room, and then use Luke's old room for the new baby." 

"Zack is going to be mad," Sam said and Carli shrugged. "So, um, when do I get started on moving that. Can I tell Hope, we're sort of best friends now." 

"We can't move the boys' things yet and yes, you can tell Hope," Carli said and Sam pumped her fist. "She kind of thinks that they came back negative though. I never did text her back when she asked me about the tests." 

"We're gonna have a baby, a kid that's yours and mine," Sam said and Carli nodded. "You want this right?" 

"If I wasn't okay with it Sam, I would have hounded your ass to use a condom. You wouldn't have gotten more than a few kisses if I didn't know that you had one handy on you. Ask Brian," Carli said and Sam smirked to herself. She had heard Zack and Luke talk about him. It wasn't that he was a bad guy, but Zack said he was boring and didn't really have anything going on other than golf. Luke complained that he wouldn't let them watch the girls play soccer on TV, only the guys. "But seriously, I'm really excited to get to do this with you." 

"Hey, I love you," Sam said softly and Carli smiled at her. Sam smiled back and Carli could tell that Sam was dead tired. 

"I love you too. Go upstairs and lay down, I'll be there soon," Carli said and Sam shook her head. 

"I don't want to fall asleep without a goodnight kiss," Sam said and Carli kissed her softly. "Night, love you Carli." 

"Goodnight, I love you too Sammy," Carli said and Sam's heart warmed at the sound of her girlfriend using that nickname.

* * *

Hope laid down on Kelley's couch, holding the smaller woman in her arms as they watched Friends on Netflix. Hope could feel Kelley's heart beating in her chest and it had an insanely calming effect on her. Hope closed her eyes and was almost asleep, but was woken up by the sound of a camera clicking above her and some wearing in a slightly southern accent. Hope opened her eyes to see Kelley looking down at her with a slight smile, which Hope returned. Kelley leaned down a little and kissed Hope, the former goalkeeper kissing her back. 

"You almost fell asleep on me," Kelley said with a little smirk. 

"Under you actually," Hope corrected with a yawn. "And I'm tired, somebody woke me up at 5:30 with a phone call about a squirrel they saw run across the balcony. I don't know if you know this, but I never did make it back to sleep." 

"Sorry sexy," Kelley said and Hope sighed. "You can take a little nap if you want. You can stay the night if you want. That's a thing girlfriends do." 

"Is this you asking me to be your girlfriend?" Hope asked and Kelley bit her lip and nodded. "Alright, that sounds really nice." 

"And you don't have to drive home super late again and keep me worried until you call me again," Kelley said and Hope closed her eyes again. "We can go to my bedroom if you want." 

"Can we watch Scream again?" Hope asked and Kelley nodded. They both got up and walked back to Kelley's bedroom. 

"Do you want a pair of shorts or something so you don't have to sleep in jeans?" Kelley asked, grabbing a pair of longer board shorts she'd stolen from Ashlyn or maybe Tobin when they had first become friends. Hope accepted them and thanked her before going to the bathroom to change. When Hope got back Kelley was laying in her bed with the movie about to start. Kelley threw back the covers and Hope saw that she was just wearing a sports bra and a pair of soccer shorts. "What, it gets kind of hot at night." 

"Yeah, uh, okay." Hope was a little more nervous about getting into bed with Kelley. These shorts wouldn't do anything to help her conceal anything that may arise throughout the night and Hope was certain that Kelley would wake up way before she would. Kelley pulled Hope into the bed and assumed the position of big spoon. "Kelley, this is a little weird." 

"It wouldn't be if you just let it happen," Kelley argued and Hope sighed. She relaxed her body more and it did feel a bit more natural. Hope wasn't used to holding anybody at night, but she was even less used to being held. Carli would hold her sometimes, mainly when she was there after a bad game or day. Hope hadn't had a bad day, but she was exhausted, so being held felt all the nicer. Hope quickly drifted off the sleep and once Hope was asleep, Kelley turned off her television, set out a spare toothbrush for Hope, and then crawled back into bed. Kelley took a little longer to fall asleep, but it was because her mind was always moving about a million miles a minute, or at least it felt like it did. Kelley could hear Christen coming into the apartment with somebody. She listened a little closer and realized that it wasn't just one somebody, it was two of them. One of them was definitely JJ, she could tell from the sound of somebody tripping over where the carpet in Christen's room started. Kelley couldn't figure out who the second person was, but she was sure to in the morning. 

* * *

"Good morning," Kelley said as she walked back into her apartment. It was almost 11, Kelley had learned that Christen and JJ's mystery guest was Sofia, and she had immediately gone for the longest run of her life. Hope was sitting on the couch with JJ, the two of them watching sports highlights on the TV. "Sorry I took so long, I went on a run." 

"It's okay," Hope said and Kelley leaned over the couch to kiss Hope. JJ fake gagged and Kelley slapped her, a little too hard to be completely playful. JJ shoved her and Kelley flicked her forehead repeatedly. 

"Let's go back to my room, she's being mean," Kelley said, as if she hadn't started the physical escalation. Hope let Kelley take her back to her bedroom and then lay down, kind of tired from her run. "How long can you stay here?" 

"I don't know. You could always stay at my place tonight," Hope offered and Kelley sat up a little. "I'd actually really like it if we could hang out there sometime. No offense to your couch, but it's not as comfortable as the new one I just got." 

"Not all of us are loaded Hope," Kelley said and Hope pouted. "But I'll stay there tonight with you. Even if you don't have a holey blanket." 

"You haven't seen what I have in storage Kelley," Hope argued and Kelley kissed her cheeks. Hope changed back into her jeans and then went home to get her house ready for Kelley to stay. Kelley excitedly packed a bag, met Hope for dinner at a semi-nice place, and then they went back to her place after going to the movies to watch some stupid new action movie. "That was not as good as Star Wars." 

"That was nothing like Star Wars," Kelley pointed out. 

"Doesn't matter, it wasn't nearly as good," Hope said and Kelley chuckled at her. "To be fair, I've never seen a movie better than Star Wars."

"Geek." Kelley kissed Hope's cheek as she unlocked her front door. "Can you carry me upstairs?" 

"Sure," Hope agreed, scooping Kelley up effortlessly. Hope carried her upstairs and laid her on her bed. Hope grabbed some clothes to change into for bed as Kelley started getting herself ready. This time, Kelley came out in a tight tank top and a pair of spandex shorts. Hope went to brush her teeth and when she came back out, it was fairly obvious that Kelley wasn't wearing a bra. "Chilly?" 

"I'm from Georgia, we use AC, but not like you're doing now," Kelley said, shaking a bit. Hope turned the AC up a bit and then got in bed, but not under the covers. "I'm gonna need you to cuddle me Solo." 

"Can I turn the AC down?" Hope asked and Kelley nodded. 

"If it means you'll hold me." Kelley watched Hope get up and turn the AC back down to what it had been at before. Hope got back into bed and Kelley settled into her arms, pressing herself as closely against Hope as she could. "Night you geek." 

"Night Kelley," Hope said, kissing Kelley's cheek. Kelley frowned and turned around to get a real kiss, tongue and everything. Hope's hands fell to Kelley's butt as Kelley's went straight to Hope's abs. Kelley yawned and Hope broke the kiss to let them actually get to sleep. By the time both of them had fallen asleep, Hope's alarm clock was flashing 12:23 in a bright red flashing light.


	11. Flashback

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the flashbacks won't be in chronological order.

Hope wasn't sure how long she had been driving. She was honestly surprised that her car was still running. It had been making some weird noise across Indiana, but it had stopped once she was out of the state. Hope had been hauling ass in order to make this doctor's appointment. Between the threats from Abby and the obvious disappointment in Carli's voice when Hope gave her the news that she couldn't get a plane ticket to New Jersey, Hope had been beating herself up. Finally, she'd had enough of it and decided to just drive to see Carli. Hope wanted to see how Carli was doing, the younger teen hadn't been answering any questions about her life when Hope had asked them. Hope let out a sigh when she pulled up to the parking lot of the doctor's office that Carli had told her to meet at. Hope was early, but it just meant she had time to prepare herself for whatever would happen. 

"Hope?" Carli sounded surprised, and a little angry. "Doesn't school start for you soon?"

"It already has. Some stuff was worked out though," Hope said, keeping everything vague. She had talked to University of Washington about getting the college classes she'd been doing online at one of the schools nearby, where she would be finishing up her high school credits and playing on their team. When all of that was finished and Carli had given birth, Hope would be going back to Seattle for college for summer classes so she could finish as early as possible. She hadn't told Carli about the apartment that she was going to look at after the appointment with Abby.

"What stuff?" Carli asked. "Also, you should have waited until a break to come down and see me."

"Then I would have missed school," Hope said and Carli leaned against the door of Hope's car. "It's complicated, but I'm gonna finish high school here and then after you have the baby, I'm back in Seattle for summer classes and then my normal classes. I'll do some online ones here though, still through Washington. Credits-wise, I'll be a senior in my second year I believe. So I can be here for you and our child."

"Let's go get breakfast," Carli said, hugging Hope tightly.

"But the appointment," Hope said before realizing she was late. "Fuck, well, what did you find out?"

"We're having a boy," Carli said with a smile. "He's healthy and Abby wants to be godmother."

"I love Abby, I really do, but she's only a year older than me," Hope said and Carli shrugged it off. "But if you want her to be the godmother, she can be."

"Right now, I want something to eat," Carli said, getting into the passenger's seat. Hope's car was a bit messy, but that was to be expected whenever somebody drives across the country on a whim of sorts. "So, where are you gonna live?"

"I don't know yet," Hope said honestly. "There's an apartment I was gonna look at downtown."

"Turn here," Carli said and Hope listened to her instructions. Hope was surprised to see Abby, Christie, and Shannon already at the restaurant when they got there. "Christie can Hope stay with you while she finished high school?"

"I guess so," Christie said and Hope thanked her. "What made you move?"

"I wanted to be close to Carli so I'm not too late for all the appointments and important stuff," Hope said and Carli smiled at her, kissing her cheek. Carli never would have let Hope do that if she had known about it, but she was happy that she had decided to move her life over to New Jersey just for their family. "I'm looking for a job too, I want to be able to get a place in Seattle so that Carli and the baby can visit me there. There's so much you have to see Carli, it's amazing."

"I have never seen you so excited about anything," Abby said and Hope ignored her. Abby started her drive back to Rochester and Hope followed Christie and Carli to Christie's house.

"You'll be on the couch until we can get a bed in that room," Christie told her and Hope nodded. Hope moved her things in, which consisted on two suitcases, a duffel bag, and her soccer gear. There weren't really many possessions that would have fit in her car, but Hope knew they were safe at her grandmother's. "Is this everything?"

"What I need for now," Hope said, laying everything out against a wall.

"Abby can bring you a mattress next weekend," Christie said and Hope nodded. "I see you had fun at the last camp."

"Fair statement," Carli said, leaning her head back against Hope's shoulder. "But I don't regret anything."

"Have you told them yet?" Christie asked and Carli shook her head. "You need to do that. You can always stay here or with Abby if it comes to that."

"I know, but they're already kind of mad at me," Carli said and Hope raised an eyebrow. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm fine, I just haven't told my parents anything. Not about you, not about the pregnancy, nothing. They'll kick me out on my ass if I do, or worse."

"I'll fight your dad," Hope said and Carli sighed. "Seriously, I'll fucking fight him."

"I know," Carli said exasperatedly.

* * *

"So, you're on shopping duty," Abby said with an amused expression. "Carli must have pregnancy brain." 

"Better than having a crush on an engaged straight woman," Hope said. She was prepared for the punch from Abby that came seconds later. "I can put in a good word for you, if you really want it."

"I'm gonna strangle you on the drive back to Christie's," Abby said seriously. "So, you're gonna be going back to Washington in less than six months."

"I leave in May, that gives me two months to stay here with Carli and the baby," Hope said and Abby sighed at her.

"Have you guys picked out a name?" Abby asked and Hope nodded. "Let me rephrase that, have you agreed on a name?"

"I want Han or Lucas, but she thinks Zack sounds better," Hope said and Abby had to agree with Carli. "She wants him to have my last name though."

"Did you propose or something?" Abby asked and Hope shook her head. "Are you planning to?"

"The ring is in Seattle," Hope said and Abby raised an eyebrow at her. "It's been in Seattle for about 3 months now. We'll get engaged and after college get married hopefully."

"Don't break her fucking heart," Abby said and Hope nodded. The two of them walked through the store, picking up the things on the list Carli had given Hope earlier than morning before she'd gone to school and a few things that weren't on the list.

* * *

"Wait, do I write Zack or Zackary?" Hope asked seriously. They had never talked about whether it was Zack or Zackary. Carli groaned as she sat up to see what Hope was doing. She had filled out the middle and last name parts of the form, but the first name part was blank. "Zack Daniel Solo sounds a little weird." 

"Put Zackary then," Carli said, a little snappy. Hope wrote that in and then handed the form to the person who'd been waiting for it. Carli reached for Hope's hand and she held onto it, rubbing across it with her thumb. "So, Christie wants me to stay in the house while you're in Seattle."

"Like, the whole time?" Hope's voice was immediately overtaken with a bit of distress. Carli looked at her curiously before frowning and nodding.

"Six months at the very least," Carli said and Hope sighed. "Why?"

"It's not important. I need to go make a call though," Hope said, excusing herself. Carli waited for her in the hospital room, just ready to go back home with their son.


	12. Chapter 12

Hope stared at the suitcase sitting in the backseat of her Impala and then got into her car. The couple of nights here and there that Hope had spent with Kelley had been nice, but now she was taking the plunge of a whole week. Christen had been staying at Julie's and Kelley had been busy trying to find a job as the summer soccer season came to an end. Hope knew that it was likely that she would end up having sex with Kelley during that week she was staying there, which made her incredibly nervous. Aside from Carli, Hope hadn't really been with more than a couple of people. Hope turned on the engine and waited a couple of minutes before she started driving towards Kelley's apartment. She was calmer when she was driving, until she almost hit somebody she thought was a homeless person walking on the side of the road, but ended up being Julie.

"Do you need a ride somewhere?" Hope asked, pulling up to Julie. The blonde stopped in her tracks and looked over at Hope. She cracked a small smile and got into the car. Hope didn't completely know the Julie situation, but she had heard Kelley talk about how worried she was about Christen, Sofia, Julie, and the dynamic of their friend group. Kelley had told her that their Thursday drinking nights had pretty much ended since both Morgan and Julie had said they wouldn't be there. It had been a thing so that all of them could hang out together.

"Thanks, I'm going to Kelley and Christen's," Julie said and Hope nodded. "Suitcase, how long are you staying?"

"A week," Hope said and Julie nodded. "I'm kind of nervous, I've never gotten this far in a relationship with anybody other than Carli."

"Well, if you get Kelley pregnant, I think you might get your ass kicked," Julie said and Hope nodded. "You got condoms?"

"No, I haven't bought condoms since I moved here," Hope said and Julie gave her a look. "Why?"

"Kelley hasn't had a need for them since high school, you do the math," Julie said and Hope sighed. "I think Christen has some. She likes to be safe when we use toys like that."

"I didn't need to know that," Hope said a little coldly.

"Sorry, I'm out of it. Chris texted me that she wanted to talk, but I was smoking with Sofia's roommate. I saw Morgan for the first time in over two weeks on my way out. She switched shifts because she hates me so much," Julie rambled on and on and Hope felt bad for her. Hope could see herself in Julie, a part of herself that she had been working hard to keep herself away from, the part where she was both numbly giving up and trying to figure out how to save herself. "Alyssa was with her, looked like she wanted to talk to me, but Moe wouldn't let that happen."

"Just, keep your head up kid. I wouldn't give up just yet," Hope said and Julie nodded. She knew that Hope had lost everything except for her money at one point, but she'd been very public about how she easily would have given up chasing her dreams if it had meant that she wouldn't have gotten divorced. Julie knew what had to happen when she got to Christen's. She needed something keeping her in New Jersey, a reason not to go back to Arizona after her next paycheck came through. As much as she'd hate to admit it, she was on the verge of having to move back home. Her checks had been going fast, but she had been essentially planning for it since she had gotten into the fight with Alyssa a couple months prior. 

"You two look friendly," Kelley said to Hope. Hope had walked up with one arm linked with Julie's as she blonde rambled on about a party that Sofia had taken her to when they had first met each other. Hope detached herself from Julie physically and went to give Kelley a kiss. "Hey sexy."

"Hi babe," Hope said softly. Kelley took Hope's suitcase back to her bedroom before taking Hope into the kitchen so she could eat dinner with everybody. Hope had thought it was going to be just them, but she was pleasantly surprised to see Ashlyn, Ali, Alex, and Tobin sitting at the table as well. Christen came out of her bedroom a couple minutes after Kelley had gotten everybody seated, including Julie, who insisted on sitting by Hope.

"You're high," Christen said, not even having to get that close to Julie in order to smell the weed on her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes because I'm not giving up," Julie said and Christen looked surprised. Despite everything Christen had been trying, Julie had only been slipping further and further into a depression before. "I've got people here that will help me if I need it, like you."

"What the hell changed?" Christen asked as Kelley handed her a glass of wine. Julie shrugged and took a sip of her beer. "Well, I'm glad it happened."

"After dinner, can we cuddle in your room?" Julie asked, leaning her head against Hope's shoulder. Hope had dealt with much clingier and more annoying women before, besides, she actually liked Julie.

"So, Hope, Kelley mentioned earlier that you guys are officially a thing," Alex said, leaning forward a bit. Kelley gave Alex a warning glare, not wanting her best friend to scare off her new girlfriend. "Kel, relax, it's not like I was gonna ask her if you guys have had sex yet."

"Alex, I fucking swear," Kelley said, punching Alex in the tit. Alex swatted at Kelley's head, but missed, the freckled woman ducking out of it.

"But have you?" Alex asked, looking at Hope.

"Alex!" Kelley yelled, her face burning red. Hope seemed completely unbothered by everything, which would have amazed Kelley if she wasn't too busy being mortified.

"No, we haven't, but I don't think there's a whole lot of a rush. I mean, I'm pretty happy with where we are and if Kelley wasn't, I'd like to think she'd tell me," Hope said, completely collected.

"Good answer," Tobin said under her breath. Alex seemed satisfied with that answer, but continued her grilling of Hope until Kelley literally forced her out of the apartment. Alex and Tobin took Ashlyn and Ali with them, Ashlyn and Hope protesting that a bit. Kelley and Ali promised to find a reason for them to hang out in the future and Ali promising Ashlyn sex at a later date. Christen and Julie cleaned everything from the dinner up and Kelley took Hope back to her bedroom so they could hang out in private. 

"So, um, sorry about them," Kelley apologized on behalf of Alex's questioning. "I didn't think she'd actually ask her how big your dick is."

"I have to admit, I'm impressed by her directness. I mean, you've been dancing around asking me for at least a week now," Hope said and Kelley looked down at her lap, blushing. "You can just ask me Kelley, I mean, it is a perk of being in a relationship."

"I know that, but you make me feel really nervous and fuzzy all the time. I can't just ask you those questions because I'd probably die or something," Kelley said and Hope smiled at her. It was a shy smile, one that Kelley had never really seen before. Hope sat up on Kelley's bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Is sex something you want with me?"

"Is there a way for me to give you an answer that doesn't sound terrible?" Hope asked and Kelley shrugged. She honestly didn't know. Hope sighed heavily and turned to face Kelley, deciding that letting the younger woman see her get flustered would be good for their relationship. "Of course I do, you are incredibly attractive. I would be an idiot not to want to have sex with you, but I won't rush you. I can hold off of anything for as long as you need me to."

"Well good because I've been wanting to try some stuff, but I haven't worked up the courage to, uh, tell you," Kelley said and Hope looked at her phone for a second. They had quite a bit of time to do whatever they wanted, and while sex was on Hope's brain, it wasn't what she was planning on doing that night.

"Get dressed, we're going out," Hope said and Kelley nodded. "Something casual."

* * *

Julie grabbed onto the headboard as she pounded Christen. There was a lot of anger being worked out for both of them in that moment, enough that neither minded the extra roughness. Christen's nails had been getting a little longer, long enough that she was certain she'd break Julie's skin in the next few seconds. Julie found that she liked the feeling of Christen's nails digging into her back as she fucked her. Julie looked down at Christen nearing her own little ecstasy and sped up, literally breaking off a piece of the headboard. 

"That was solid wood and you broke it," Christen mumbled, chuckling a little.

"I'm sorry," Julie said and Christen let it go. "I'll fix it, I promise."

"Better you break that than the wall," Christen said as Julie climbed off of her. "So, you look like you've got something on your mind."

"I did the math and after this paycheck, I'll be looking for shit in Arizona," Julie said and Christen sat up quickly. "I wanted to tell you, just like, a heads up."

"Stay here with me. Kelley won't mind, you won't be alone, and I'll save on gas," Christen said and Julie contemplated it. "It doesn't have to mean anything in regards to this."

"If I wanted it to, could it?" Julie asked and now it was Christen's turn to contemplate. She did want things to progress with Julie, but there were times when they were so different she wasn't sure if the could. "You know, that was dumb, forget it."

"I would like that I think. Give us a try, but if you live here, you're not smoking here," Christen said and Julie nodded.

"I'll fucking quit, expensive habit," Julie said and Christen kissed her forehead. "Can I get edibles though?"

"Yes, that's the healthy way to consume cannabis anyways," Christen told her and Julie yawned. "When do you go in?"

"12," Julie said, cuddling into Christen's side. Christen let Julie fall asleep and woke her up a couple hours later around 11 to start getting ready. Julie showered, changed into the uniform she'd worn the other day and left on Christen's bedroom floor, grabbed something quick to eat, and then Christen drove her to work.

* * *

Carli watched as Sam's chest rose and fell with each breath she took. Abby had come over with a 24 pack of beer that she drank with Sam. Abby was passed out on their couch in the living room and if not for Carli, Sam would have been down there too. Carli knew that Abby didn't have anything to do the next day except for maybe call Christie, but Sam did have work in the morning. Carli set her phone on the table and Sam began to stir before waking up. 

"Hey, go back to sleep," Carli said quietly and Sam raised her head up a bit. "Sam, baby, go to sleep."

"Pillow," Sam mumbled, pulling Carli closer. Sam rested her head on Carli's breasts and within minutes was snoring softly. Carli smiled fondly at her girlfriend and then let herself drift off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Julie unlocked the door to her apartment and looked around it. All of her things had been moved into boxes and put into four separate piles: move, storage, sell, and trash. They had decided that they'd take the boxes labeled move first. It was more important to get the things she was keeping with her to Christen's apartment anyways. Kelley had roped Hope into helping, most likely with the promise of sex at a later time. Hope had been at the apartment for three days, but according to Christen, they hadn't fucked yet. Kelley seemed too antsy for them to have done it, but they were definitely getting close to it. Hope's contribution was letting them use her SUV instead of having to take a bunch of trips with Ashlyn's Jeep, Christen's car, and maybe a box on Julie's motorbike.

"Welp, time to get going," Julie said to herself. She bent down to pick up a box and walked to the elevator. Christen should have been up by then, but Julie wasn't too worried since she knew that Christen wouldn't just abandon her. Julie made it to the parking lot before she saw what was holding Christen up. Kelley, Hope, Christen, Ashlyn, and Ali were talking to Alyssa and Morgan. Julie took slower steps, but then realized that the sooner she got her shit loaded up, the sooner she could just get out of there. Julie made brief eye contact with Alyssa, but then looked away from her. She did catch Alyssa's frown out of the corner of her eye, something that Morgan would have noticed if she hadn't been using a conversation with Ali and Christen to ignore.

"I'm gonna head upstairs to get something," Alyssa said, kissing Morgan's cheek. She jogged a little to catch up with Julie, who had been walking back into the building pretty quickly. Julie ended up in an elevator with Alyssa, neither of them talking for a couple of seconds. "Are you going back to Arizona now?"

"No, I'm moving in with Christen so I don't have to go back there," Julie said and Alyssa seemed relieved. "Don't worry, I won't even ask you or Morgan to help, I know how you feel about me."

"We're your friends Julie. The thing between you and Morgan is just because neither of you have talked to each other since the fight. All I'm saying about it now is that this will be fixed before I propose to her," Alyssa said and Julie's eyes widened. "So, do you need any help moving?"

"Maybe, but Morgan just got off work, I know that you probably want to spend some time with her," Julie said and Alyssa put her arm around Julie's shoulders.

"I'll take that as a yes," Alyssa said and Julie thanked her. Alyssa and Julie managed to get about 1/4 of the 'move' boxes out before everybody else came up. Morgan skipped out to stay in her apartment and avoid Julie. It had hurt the blonde, but she was happy to at least be back on speaking terms with Alyssa.

* * *

"I'm nervous," Sam said. Carli just gave Sam a small smile as she tied Sam's hair back. "I mean, what if they get mad?"

"Maddie won't be too happy, but Luke and Zack will definitely take it better. I think Luke wants another middle child," Carli said. Sam tilted her head back so Carli could give her a kiss. Carli patted Sam's shoulders and then let the girl get up from the chair. "If something about any of this makes you nervous, promise me that you'll talk to somebody. I don't care if it's me, Hope, Kelley, or somebody else, but somebody."

"I will, I promise." Sam started walking out of their bedroom as Carli finished getting ready. Sam sat down on the couch with her phone and watched highlights from a rugby match that she'd missed due to time zone issues. Zack and Luke were playing outside in the backyard, tossing a football around, and Maddie was sitting on Sam's lap, nodding off. Carli smiled as she came downstairs and saw Sam and Maddie on the couch. She went outside to get her sons inside and sat everybody down on the couch.

"Mommy are you sick again?" Luke asked and Carli shook her head. "Is Sam sick?"

"No, but Sam and I have to tell you something," Carli said and Luke looked over at Sam with curious eyes. "In the next couple of months, Zack is gonna be moving up to the attic, Luke will be going into Zack's old room, and Luke's room will be a nursery."

"What's a nurse-ree?" Luke asked. He looked over to Zack, who was processing what Carli had just said.

"Wait a minute, are you pregnant?" Zack asked and Carli nodded. "What the hell, I don't wanna stay in the attic!"

"There's not really another option Zack, it's cleaned out and bigger than your room," Carli said and Zack huffed. "Before you ask Luke, you're gonna get a new sibling."

"Like a dog?" Luke asked and Carli shook her head. "If I gotta move into Zack's room, I want a puppy roommate so I don't get lonely."

"We'll see about getting a dog Luke," Sam said and Carli pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's a good test to see if I can handle a baby."

"Sam go to the gym, Zack go enjoy your room before it becomes Luke's, Luke go upstairs and play or something," Carli said and everybody scrambled away quickly. "Maddie, baby, do you want a little brother or sister?"

"No," Maddie said and Carli sighed. "But I want a puppy too."

"Of course you do," Carli said under her breath. "I'll see about getting a puppy, but you have to be good about the baby like a big girl."

"I can do that mommy," Maddie said and Carli ran her fingers through Maddie's blonde curls. "Can I go to mama's?"

"I'll call tonight and see if you can stay tomorrow, I promise," Carli said and Maddie yawned. "You wanna take a nap here or take a nap with me upstairs?"

"Stairs," Maddie answered and Carli picked her up and carried her upstairs. Zack's door was shut and Carli could hear him playing Call of Duty. She sighed and looked into Luke's room to see him playing with Lego blocks. Maddie was practically asleep already, so Carli wasn't in a huge rush to get her laid down. Although, she could feel tiredness beginning to pull her down, so she walked into her room and laid both of them down. Carli waited until Maddie was asleep to fall asleep herself.

* * *

"Hey, I got you a Gatorade," Christie said, handing Sam a purple Gatorade. "Drink it or I'm kicking you out for a week."

"Trust me, don't have to tell me twice," Sam said, taking a large sip of the drink. "What time is it?"

"Almost 3:30," Christie answered. Sam put the cap on the drink and laid back on the bench she'd been sitting on. "You've been here a couple of hours now. Something happen with Carli?"

"We told the kids she's pregnant and Zack didn't take it so well. I think she had been prepared for Maddie to throw a fit and Luke to be a little upset, but she thought Zack would do okay. He's already the oldest and he'd be getting a bigger room. I think that she is kind of freaked out about the baby and I said something dumb, so she told me to go to the gym," Sam said and Christie put a hand on Sam's back. Christie had been around Hope and Carli's early stages of the relationships, she knew that being pregnant brought up a lot of shit for Carli that caused her to be more on edge than normal.

"When Carli gets pregnant, she gets a little weird about things. Bad things tend to happen during her pregnancies, or extra stressful things is also an accurate description. With Zack's, her parents kicked her out. Then with Luke's, she was fighting really badly with Hope, their marriage was essentially over by then. With Maddie's, Hope halfassedly cleaned up her act to try and be there for the boys, but it was obvious that she was still fucking up pretty badly. Make sure that you listen to her and when she needs you, get your ass there ASAP," Christie told her and Sam nodded. "Before you go back, buy her something. It doesn't have to be big or fancy, but just get her a little something special and apologize for whatever dumb shit you said to her, even if it wasn't actually bad, but stupid."

"I will, thanks Christie," Sam said, standing up from the bench. She put her wallet back in her pocket and walked out of the gym. Sam stopped by Target to get cookies for Carli, popsicles for the kids, and then a couple of things for herself. Sam was surprised when she got home to the living room being almost completely silent. Maddie was on the couch with Luke watching a movie, but Zack and Carli were absolutely nowhere to be seen. "Hey guys, where's everybody else?"

"Mommy sleep," Maddie said and Sam nodded. Sam put everything where it needed to go, popsicles in the freezer, her stuff in the basement, and the cookies were ran up to the bedroom. Sam opened the door quietly, thinking Carli was still asleep. Once she was inside, she turned around and saw Carli just watching her.

"I'm sorry for being an idiot earlier," Sam said, hopping onto the bed. "I love you."

"I love you too. I'm sorry for sending you off like that," Carli said, leaning towards Sam to kiss her cheek. Sam turned her head slightly and kissed Carli's lips softly, breaking the kiss with a smile. "I should go downstairs and check on Maddie."

"She's watching that stupid ice movie with Luke," Sam said and Carli sat up. "So, you can stay and cuddle with me up here where that movie is not."

"Frozen isn't that bad Sam. Also, just wait until you have to watch the baby shows," Carli said and Sam groaned. "And you will have to watch them."

"Our child will watch Spongebob and Archer," Sam said and Carli shook her head. "Spongebob at least?"

"That's fine, but you're not letting our baby watch Archer. Not once they start talking," Carli said and Sam agreed to that. Carli stood up from the bed and pulled Sam onto her feet. "Let's go downstairs."

"Fine, but only because I want a popsicle." Sam followed Carli downstairs and walked straight into the kitchen. "Hey Zack."

"Sam," Zack said coldly. Sam was about to ask him if he was okay, but when she turned around after closing the freezer, he was gone. Sam sighed and went to join Carli on the couch with Luke and Maddie.

* * *

Kelley took a gasping breath as she broke her kiss with Hope. Kelley's lungs were burning a little and her lips were bruised from kissing Hope so much. They were still on the couch and would have to move if Hope kept kissing Kelley like she was. It had started innocently enough about 20 minutes earlier while Kelley was showing Hope the new game she had gotten for her PlayStation. Sam had found it a few days earlier on discount and had given it to her the last time they'd seen each other. They had been playing for a couple of hours at that point when Hope decided that she was less interested in the game and more interested in Kelley. It started with an occasional glance followed by a quick peck on the cheek and quickly turned into something much more. 

"Want to keep going?" Hope asked, her voice a bit huskier than normal. Kelley nodded and sat up on the couch, looking around the living room. She glanced out the window and noticed that it was completely dark outside except for a few stars in the sky. She stood up and offered a hand to help Hope up.

"We should take this to my bedroom. If that's okay with you of course," Kelley said and Hope nodded. Hope hopped up from the couch without any help from Kelley and followed her back her bedroom. Kelley quickly and quietly shut the door to her bedroom and then turned around to see Hope sitting on the edge of her bed. "Don't you look like a snack."

"You're ridiculous." Hope chuckled. Kelley pushed her back onto the bed and put her hand on Hope's belt buckle. Hope watched her intently, eyes following Kelley's every move. Kelley unbuckled Hope's belt and then pulled it out from her jeans. Hope jumped when Kelley snapped it before pulling Kelley onto the bed and flipping them. Kelley let out a little squeal and Hope attached her mouth to the side of Kelley's neck, kissing, sucking, and biting the skin there. Hope found two spots on Kelley's neck almost immediately that got reactions from Kelley. Hope focused her bites there and groaned against the hickeys forming on Kelley's neck when Kelley ground her hips against Hope. There was quite a bit of fabric between them, but both of them could feel something at the very least. Hope sat up a bit and pulled her shirt off, tossing it behind her.

"Mmm, hot," Kelley mumbled as she reached out and touched Hope's abs. She traced the lines of muscle there and then moved her hands down a bit to trace as much of the v-line as she her fingers could find. Hope moved down Kelley's body and tugged her shorts down as she did. Hope moved her hands up Kelley's legs, pushing her shirt up when she got there. Kelley let Hope undress her before pulling her up for a kiss. Hope continued to kiss down Kelley's body, leaving a trail of marks along Kelley's chest and stomach. Hope kissed back up the trail before wrapping her lips around one of Kelley's nipples. "Fuck Hope, that feels so good."

Kelley moved her hips against Hope in an attempt to get some friction. Hope knew that there would be a wet stain on her jeans where Kelley was rubbing, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. Hope kissed along the freckles in between Kelley's breasts as she moved to the other nipple. Kelley was starting to get almost uncomfortably wet and all she wanted was for Hope to be inside of her or at least make her cum. Kelley let out a little whine and Hope knew that there were more pressing matters at hand. She pressed kisses down Kelley's body, following a made up trail of freckles. They were like pinpoints on a map, marking the way for Hope to find something truly special.

"Please," Kelley whined as Hope settled in between Kelley's legs. Hope spread Kelley's legs and licked up from her entrance. Hope went back and lapped at Hope's entrance, savoring the taste of Kelley on her tongue. Kelley held Hope's head in between her legs by tangling her fingers into Hope's hair. Kelley moved Hope's mouth up a bit so that at least the tip of Hope's tongue could reach her clit. Hope tilted her head slightly to drag the flat part of her tongue up against Kelley's clit before making circles with the tip of her tongue. Kelley's body began to tense when Hope sucked Kelley's clit into her mouth and slid two fingers inside of her. Hope curled them upwards and alternated between sucking and tracing circles on Kelley's clit. "Fuck, Hope, I'm g-g-gonna cu-," Kelley was cut off as her body began to quiver and she came on Hope's fingers.

Kelley lazily reached out to unbutton Hope's jeans. Hope repositioned herself so that Kelley could more easily get her out of her pants. Kelley sat up a bit to unzip Hope's pants and then pulled Hope in by her belt loops for a kiss. Kelley could taste herself on Hope's tongue and she thought that it was the best she'd ever tasted. Kelley moved her hand into Hope's jeans and felt Hope through her underwear. Kelley couldn't even feel all of Hope, but she knew that she was going to be big. There was a feeling of nervousness in the pit of Kelley's stomach that she wouldn't be able to do a lot with Hope just yet. The only dicks that had been inside of Kelley that weren't made of plastic or covered in lube (which she didn't have any of) couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 inches long.

"Fuck, these are coming off," Hope said. She moved onto her knees before standing up and ungracefully taking off her pants. Kelley could see Hope straining against the fabric of her underwear and sat up at the end of the bed. Kelley tugged Hope's underwear down a bit and then leaned forward to take the tip into her mouth. Kelley moved back and looked up at Hope, using her hand to stroke Hope off.

"You're big," Kelley said and Hope nodded. "I'm gonna have to get some lube."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna hurt you," Hope promised and Kelley smiled at her. Kelley pulled Hope onto the bed and laid her down. Hope's bit her lip as she watched Kelley take Hope inch by inch into her mouth. Kelley briefly choked, but kept going on. Kelley held onto Hope's hands as her head bobbed up and down on Hope's dick. Hope's mouth fell open and Kelley never thought she'd hear the almost needy moans coming out of Hope's mouth. Hope's hips arched up a bit as Kelley moved her mouth back. Kelley pushed Hope's hips back a bit and focused on teasing her tip to make her cum. Kelley could tell as Hope's breathing picked up that she was close, so she looked up at Hope and stroked her with her hands until she came.

"Did I do good?" Kelley asked, an earnest look on her face. Hope nodded and pulled Kelley up to lay next to her. Kelley kissed her softly and then sat up. "Shower?"

"A bath sounds nice," Hope said and Kelley frowned at her.

"Maybe at your place sometime," Kelley said and Hope nodded. Kelley hopped up from her bed and ran across the hallway to the bathroom to take a shower with Hope. Hope waited a second and then moved quickly to join Kelley in the shower.


	14. Chapter 14

"Chris, I need your help," Kelley said, knocking on her roommate's bedroom door. "It's urgent."

"What?" Julie asked, opening it. Julie had hickeys all along the side of her neck and wasn't wearing anything except for a pair of unbuttoned pants and a sports bra. Christen pulled Julie back and stepped in between her roommates. "This better be important."

"It's about Hope," Kelley said and Christen nodded. "She invited me to dinner with her tonight and I don't know what to wear. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, but she casually mentioned that it was at her ex's house. Not just any ex, but like the wife kind of ex. I need your help on what to wear."

"Okay, I'll help you and then I'm coming back in here and you're not knocking on my door again until tomorrow morning," Christen said and Kelley nodded. "Actually, stay the night at Hope's tonight."

"Okay, yes, thank you," Kelley said and Christen walked out of her room. Kelley noticed that she was wearing a silk robe, one that she was pretty sure belonged to Julie if the Santa Clara logo was anything to go by. Kelley knew that Julie had gone there for a little while, but then met a guy, fell in love, they broke up, and then she came to Jersey. She had lied to her parents and told them that she was continuing her studies at Rutgers, but Kelley knew that was complete bullshit. She was pretty sure that Julie hadn't opened a textbook since she dropped out of college. "I need to look fancy, but not like I'm trying too hard, just enough."

"Okay, I got this," Christen said, pulling out a pair of pressed khaki pants and a light pink polo shirt. Christen searched through Kelley's shoe collection until she found a pair of black Vans that weren't scuffed up from skating. "This will look good. Now, if you don't mind, I have an impatient 22 year old in my bedroom."

"Do your thing stud," Kelley said and Christen rolled her eyes. Kelley got dressed and touched up her makeup before waiting in the living room for Hope's text that she was there. Kelley was going to bring a backpack to Hope's, but remembered that Hope would just let her borrow something to sleep in. Kelley had a job interview at a natural science museum, which was the job that she normally held whenever she wasn't coaching. She had been given an internship there for a summer once and after she'd graduated from college, had been promoted to a tour guide in the environmental center.

"Hey Kelley," Sam said, pushing the door to Kelley's apartment open. Kelley looked up at her friend with a look of confusion before Hope walked in behind her. "I wanted to help bring you in. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I am," Kelley said, moving past Sam to walk next to Hope. Sam sat in the backseat and Kelley held onto Hope's hand on the drive over. "I don't like this car as much as your other one."

"I had to drop the kids off with Abby for the night, so this was kind of my only option," Hope said and Kelley sighed.

"I don't know if I can fuck you knowing that you drive a Subaru," Kelley said and Hope scoffed.

"This is not a Subaru, it's a Lincoln," Hope corrected. "And it is glorious and spacious, so if we wanted to, we could comfortably fuck in here."

"And watch a movie," Sam interjected. Kelley reached back to swat her, but Sam caught her hands. "Carli's pulled that enough times to where I can stop it from anybody."

"Except for her because she got you like six times before we left," Hope pointed out. Sam was quiet for the rest of the ride and Kelley realized that this would be one of the first times she'd get to see Carli and Sam interact with each other. "You look really good, a bit like a frat boy, but nice."

"Thank you, Christen picked it out for me because I was freaking out," Kelley admitted and Hope kissed her cheek. Kelley realized that maybe she didn't have to dress up quite as much as she thought. Hope was wearing a pair of very fashionably ripped jeans and a Stanford shirt with the sleeves cut off that was slightly too small for her. If Hope didn't raise her arms, it wouldn't be a problem, but Kelley wanted her to raise her arms. "Is that my shirt?"

"Yeah, Sam spilled ice cream on my shirt," Hope said and Sam tried to argue, but stopped once she saw Carli. Sam ran up to Carli and Hope grabbed onto Kelley's hand to lead her into the house. "Maddie is mad at you now, you forgot to pack her princess makeup so she could make Abby a princess."

"Abby told me specifically not to pack that," Carli said and Hope shrugged. "I think Christie is bringing makeup for her to play with though."

"Good, that means I'll get pictures," Hope said and Carli nodded. "Carli, Kelley. Kelley, Carli."

"What an introduction," Sam said sarcastically.

"Sorry, let me rephrase. Carli, my ex wife, the mother of my children, and the woman I had sex with before Sam, and Kelley, my very attractive, kind of chaotic, and gorgeous girlfriend," Hope said and Kelley leaned in and kissed the corner of Hope's mouth.

"Also another woman you'll be having sex with before Sam," Kelley said and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, I get to have a baby with Carli, so suck it," Sam said and Hope just kind of looked between Sam and Carli.

"You know what, congrats Sam. Call me if I need to kick her ass Car," Hope said and Carli nodded. "Fuck up and I'll kick your ass Sam."

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you Sam," Kelley said and Sam blushed. It only darkened whenever Carli pulled Sam onto her lap and pressed a kiss to her pulse point.

"Let's eat." Sam's voice cracked and Kelley snort-laughed at that.

* * *

Alyssa pouted as she watched Morgan get ready for work. Morgan was back on working the graveyard shift with Julie, but they were in different departments of the store now, so Morgan was pretty sure she wouldn't have to talk to Julie. Alyssa needed to talk to Morgan about Julie, but there was never a good time. Morgan would get pissy with her whenever she tried to bring up the blonde. Alyssa sat up and pulled Morgan onto her lap, securing her there. Alyssa kissed along the side of Morgan's neck and got her worked up just enough so that she wouldn't try to bolt when she brought Julie up.

"So, we need to have a chat," Alyssa said and Morgan nodded. "You're friends with Julie, we're all friends with Julie. You need to be her friend again because it isn't just affecting her anymore. It's affecting me and it's affecting you, even if you don't realize it. I want to be able to have her over so the two of us can have a beer or we can go to Kelley's and drink on Thursdays again. I can also tell that you miss her. It's been a long time, you can get over yourself now."

"No," Morgan argued. Alyssa let go of Morgan and slid out from underneath her. Alyssa grabbed a backpack and starting putting some of her clothes in it. "What are you doing?"

"Packing myself a bag. I'll be back when you get off your bullshit," Alyssa said and Morgan sighed. She watched Alyssa leave and then got an Uber to work.

* * *

"Morgan's coming back to graveyards with me," Julie said and Christen smiled. "It's either progress or pay."

"In some capacity it's progress," Christen said, pulling Julie's hair into a ponytail. Julie was capable of doing it herself, but she always thought it looked neater whenever Christen did it for her. "Let's get your lunch packed and then I'll let you go."

"You're parenting me again," Julie said and Christen sighed. "It's okay though, I kind of like it. It shows you care about my well-being."

"What are you doing when you get home in the morning?" Christen asked and Julie had to think about it for a moment. "Let me rephrase, what are you not doing?"

"Getting tipsy," Julie said and Christen nodded. "I'm coming straight to the bedroom, changing into pajamas, and then going to sleep."

"Exactly," Christen said with a little smile. "I can't stay up with you because I do have a busy day tomorrow."

"Understandable," Julie said, pecking Christen's cheek. "If we move out and get our own place, I think I want us to get a dog."

"We'll get a dog together one day, I promise." Christen patted Julie's thigh and then stood up. Julie followed her into the kitchen and picked out what she was going to bring for her "lunch" at work. "Can I drive you in today?"

"I don't want you waking up that early to take me back home," Julie said and Christen pouted.

"I'll stay up until then," Christen said and Julie nodded. She wasn't happy that Christen was staying up so late, but she knew that her girlfriend would probably just finish out her latest Glee binge since she was close to the end. Julie grabbed a jacket for the chilly night air and then tossed Christen the car keys. Christen dropped Julie off just as Morgan's Uber was arriving and Julie walked in beside Morgan.

"Hey Moe," Julie said with a polite smile. "How's your day been?"

"Fuck you," Morgan said and Julie took a step back momentarily. Julie clenched her jaw and then stepped in front of Morgan. "You're kind of in my way."

"You've been a bitch towards me for so long now and I'm sick of it. Yeah, Alyssa and I got in a fight, but we made up. She hurt me a hell of a lot worse than I did her. Yes I broke your coffee table, but I also let you take the new one I bought when you moved in with Alyssa. You wanna keep acting like a petty piece of shit, do it, but don't expect me to sit there and take it anymore," Julie snapped and Morgan started crying. Julie wasn't sure what to do, she was pretty pissed, but Morgan was also her friend, whether or not she wanted to be. Julie wrapped her arms around Morgan and let the girl just sob. The store was pretty empty, but that could change at any moment. "What's going on?"

"Alyssa l-le-left," Morgan stuttered out through her sobbing. Julie sighed and walked Morgan back to the stockroom. "I fucked up. She told me to make up with you because things were getting ridiculous and I just told her no. She just packed a bag and left."

"She'll be back," Julie said, offering Morgan a tissue. "Clock in and I'll call Alyssa really quick."

"Thank you," Morgan said, hugging Julie tightly. Julie nodded and pulled out her phone.

 _ **"Hey, JJ, what's up?"** _Alyssa sounded a lot more shaken up than Julie would have expected. Even in the most serious situations they'd been through together, Alyssa had remained completely composed until she was completely alone. She was one of the 'stronger for the sake of everybody' types.

"Morgan, she's really fucked up over your fight. I don't want to be the reason that two of my closest friends are hurting, so please, go home Alyssa. Before you do that though, stop by the store and talk to her because I doubt that she'll be okay until you do," Julie said before hanging up. She didn't give Alyssa an option to not do that because if she didn't by the time that Julie was off work, Julie would bring Christen into it and Christen wasn't one to fuck around when feelings were involved.

* * *

"That went well," Hope said with a dopey grin on her face. "Carli approves I think. Sam definitely does."

"I just want to give you a fair warning, when this gets out, I doubt all of the parents will," Kelley said and Hope shrugged.

"I've lived quite a bit of my life living in the media. I can take some assholes with opinions on things they know nothing about," Hope said and Kelley leaned in and kissed her.

"I love how badass you are," Kelley said, wrapping her arms around Hope's neck. Hope had Kelley pushed against the side of her car, they hadn't technically left Carli's yet. "It's hot."

"So, am I dropping you off at your place?" Hope asked and Kelley shook her head.

"I think JJ called in so she and Christen could..." Kelley trailed off and Hope nodded. "They don't have to be the only ones getting lucky. I think we should actually do it, no holding back this time."

"Are you sure?" Hope asked and Kelley nodded.

"Yeah, it wasn't necessarily a fear that you'd be too much, but that I wouldn't be enough to satisfy you," Kelley admitted shamefully. Hope pushed herself up from the side of the car and opened Kelley's door.

"Trust me, there's no way that you aren't enough for me. Hopefully you realize that before you realize what you're doing," Hope said and Kelley raised an eyebrow at her. Hope didn't elaborate and Kelley got the hint that it was a self-deprecating statement. Hope kept a hand on Kelley's thigh the entire drive back to her house and Kelley was definitely feeling it. Kelley raced inside and upstairs to Hope's bedroom and Hope followed her up. Kelley pressed Hope against the door in Hope's bedroom and held onto her hips tightly. "How long have you been waiting to do this?"

"Honest answer, like 15 or 16. Washington had a game against Stanford that I watched on TV and you took your gloves off. I didn't imagine I'd get more than fingers though," Kelley said and Hope picked Kelley up. Kelley loved the pure strength that Hope showed off for her. Hope flipped them so that Kelley was against the door and kept only one arm wrapped around Kelley's body as the other rubbed at the inseam of Kelley's pants. "Fuck Hope, you don't need to tease me like that."

"I don't need to do a lot of things Kel," Hope said cheekily. Kelley pushed back against the door and Hope took them over to the bed. Hope laid Kelley on the bed and Kelley pushed her up so that they could both undress. Kelley loved Hope's body, the muscle mixed with just the right amount of softness. Kelley grabbed onto Hope's ass and pulled the former goalkeeper against her body. Kelley playfully nipped at Hope's neck, just above the spot she had left a hickey during their last date. Hope moved her hand in between Kelley's legs to tease her cunt, surprised to find it so wet. Kelley's body attempted to move under Hope's to find more of Hope's touch, but didn't get very far. 

"Please, I want you so badly," Kelley pleaded. Her voice was needy and higher pitched than normal. Hope sat back on her heels to observe Kelley for a moment. Kelley let out a little whine and it snapped Hope into gear. She got up from the bed and looked around for a couple of moments before coming back to Kelley with a condom. Hope hadn't thought she'd taken all that long, but Kelley's fingers were inside of herself and her head was thrown back in pleasure. Hope wrapped her hand around Kelley's wrist and slowly slid Kelley's fingers out of herself.

"Patience isn't one of your virtues is it?" Hope asked with a small chuckle. Kelley ignored her joke and helped Hope to get the condom on faster. Kelley spread her legs once Hope was ready and reached up to wrap her arms around Hope's neck. Hope slowly slid into her and inch by inch, Kelley could feel herself being filled and stretched. Hope was impressed that Kelley didn't wince once though, but Kelley only did that to make sure Hope didn't stop once. "Fuck, you're really tight."

"It's been awhile," Kelley mumbled absentmindedly. Hope looked down at Kelley just as Kelley looked up at Hope. Hazel eyes met blue ones and Kelley was certain that she loved Hope then and there. The moment was intimate and scared Hope more than anything had in a long time, but she didn't want to run from anything. She wanted to stay with Kelley because Hope hadn't felt so happy like she was since she had first gotten married to Carli. Kelley's arms fell from Hope's neck and one held onto Hope's hand while the other fell to the small of Hope's back.

"Are you okay?" Hope asked as she found a suitable pace for both of them. Kelley nodded, biting her lip to hold in a yelp. Hope leaned down and kissed Kelley's jaw, scraping her teeth against the skin there. Kelley trailed her fingers along Hope's back and turned her head so that she could kiss Hope. Hope loved the feeling of being inside of Kelley and she wasn't sure how long she'd last. Kelley was warm, wet, and on the brink of an orgasm. Hope could feel her inner walls begin to tighten around the girth of Hope's cock and Hope pulled out of Kelley before she let herself cum. "Seriously, you okay still?"

"I'm fine, but tomorrow I'll be sore," Kelley said and Hope tossed the condom in the trash. "I'm sleepy though."

"I was gonna run a bath. My tub is definitely big enough for the both of us and I don't have champagne, but I've got beer if you want that," Hope offered and Kelley nodded.

"A bath and some Budweiser," Kelley said, getting up from the bed. Kelley grabbed the beer while Hope ran the bath. She handed Hope hers and watched as Hope opened it on the edge of her vanity. "I can't think of a better way to spend my night. I mean, good food, great sex, a nice bath, good beer, and then some grade A cuddling. All of this with the best company in the world."

"Yeah, I am pretty great company," Hope said and Kelley swatted at her shoulder. Hope caught her hand and kissed her knuckles. Kelley just sort of stared at Hope for a moment as Hope let go of her hand, turned off the water, and then got into the tub. "Gonna join me?"


	15. Chapter 15

Kelley was bored. Christen was on her way to Chicago with Julie, Alex was on her way to visiting her parents, Tobin was doing something with the local church, Allie was looking for a new place to stay with her fiance, and Hope wasn't picking up her phone. Kelley was pretty sure they weren't fighting, she had left Hope's over a week ago very satisfied and they had seen each other a couple of times since then. Kelley knew that she was being selfish with Hope's time, she had a family and life away from their relationship, but Kelley was bored and needed something to occupy her mind. Hope just happened to be what Kelley was thinking about almost constantly. It wasn't her fault that so many great things happened to remind Kelley of Hope.

"Fuck!" Kelley jumped when she heard a loud knocking on her front door. Kelley got up from her bed and checked to see who was there. Kelley was surprised to see Sam and Carli standing in front of her door. Kelley unlocked and opened it, leaned into the space between the door and door frame. "Sam, Carli, what a surprise."

"A good one obviously," Sam said, turning to Carli. "Hey, so have you seen Hope lately? Carli is very worried about her."

"No, she hasn't called or texted me back since Wednesday," Kelley said and Carli sighed. She pulled her phone out and dialed Hope's number before walking away. Kelley let Sam in and the two of them sat on the couch and waited for Carli to come back with any sort of news. "Should I be worried?"

"I'm sure Carli will fix this. She's an expert on Hope. Kind of like how Hope is an expert on her, they know each other," Sam said. Kelley knew that Sam was secure in her relationship with Carli, but she also knew that the only thing that could have made her insecure just happened to have come back into everything fairly recently. "If Carli was gonna leave you for her, she would have already."

"Shut up," Sam said, shoving Kelley slightly. The door opened, drawing both of their attentions away from each other and over to Carli. "Hey, so is she okay?"

"Relatively, she's just an idiot. She hasn't been avoiding you Kelley, she just hasn't charged her phone since she was over here last," Carli said and Kelley nodded. "I called her house phone. She was busy getting some more business things smoothed out for Reign."

"Hope has a home phone?" Kelley asked quietly. Carli nodded and Sam stood up from the couch. "Oh."

"From the sound of it, she forgot about it too," Carli said, trying to make Kelley feel a bit better about not knowing that was a thing Hope had. "Well, we should get going. You can go see her, actually, it'd be helpful if you could and text Sam so that she'll stop freaking out about her."

"Yeah, no problem. I've been pretty worried too," Kelley said and Sam hugged Kelley. Sam went to leave, but stopped and whispered something to Carli before running off. Carli didn't leave immediately, instead taking a second to just study Kelley. "Does she do stuff like that a lot?"

"She's terrifying at first, but I promise that you'll get to know when something is really wrong," Carli said and Kelley nodded. "I also promise that she isn't scaring you on purpose. She doesn't think everything all the way through all the time. Have a nice afternoon."

"Thanks, you too," Kelley replied. Carli let herself out, which left Kelley alone once again. Kelley sat back on the couch for a second before dragging herself back to her bedroom to get some clothes before going over to Hope's. Kelley knew the route like the back of her hand and three alternates, glad that there were so many different ways to get to her girlfriend's house. Kelley also just loved going to see Hope. There wasn't a whole lot that made her happier than seeing Hope. Hope made Kelley feel good about herself in ways that she hadn't realized relationships could.

"Hey, I was just gonna come see you," Hope said, running up to Kelley's car. She looked exhausted and Kelley decided that any sexual advances would be put on hold. Hope opened Kelley's door for her and Kelley got out of her car. "Planning on staying the night?"

"I'll have you know that I keep clothes in my car normally. Especially in summer, the polo shirts can't be worn all day," Kelley said and Hope nodded. Kelley reached up to kiss Hope and Hope let her. "Also, now my mission here is to make sure you get some rest. You look tired."

"I've been busy with soccer stuff. No need to worry about me," Hope said and Kelley decided that was pure bullshit. Kelley was going to worry because she didn't want Hope to make herself sick, strain herself, or stress herself out over anything. Kelley understand there was always stress in person's life, but Hope was bringing too much on herself at once in Kelley's opinion. Hope most likely was trying to get everything done by herself.

"Get yourself an assistant," Kelley said and Hope shook her head. "Well, then no work when I'm around. You need a break sometimes and I get the vibe you don't just let yourself take breaks."

"Fine, but I'm not just taking a nap. Let's watch a movie or something," Hope said and Kelley agreed to that. Hope let Kelley pick and Kelley picked a romantic comedy since Hope's track record with staying awake during those was slim to none. It barely took 15 minutes before Hope was completely passed out on the couch.

* * *

"Sam, am I going to have a brother or a sister?" Luke asked and Sam shrugged. "Are you gonna leave when the baby comes?" 

"Of course not," Sam said and Luke smiled. "Why?"

"Mommy said that Mama left after I was born and then she came back for a bit, but left again when Maddie was born," Luke said and Sam sighed. "I like you, I don't want you to leave."

"Trust me, I don't ever want to leave your mom," Sam said and Luke beamed. "If everything was up to me, I'd make sure that we're together forever and ever."

"I bet you will be," Luke said and Sam nodded. "Mommy loves you too, she even says your name when she sleeps sometimes."

"She says a lot of things when she sleeps," Sam pointed out. Carli had a tendency to talk in her sleep and while when Maddie did it, it was mainly gibberish, Carli spoke full sentences that happened to almost never make any sense. Sam thought it was cute, even if she had come up with literally terrifying statements before. "We try not to take much of it seriously."

"Like the nightmare words?" Luke asked and Sam nodded very seriously in response. "Can you take Zack and Maddie to the movies tomorrow?"

"Why?" Sam asked and Luke shrugged.

"I was sick on my day last week," Luke said softly. Sam nodded and Luke hugged her. Luke had gotten a cold on the day that he was supposed to do something with Carli, so he ended up not getting to do much more than eat some soup and take a lot of naps. "Thank you."

"No problem dude," Sam said, sitting up on the couch. Sam checked her phone and glanced down at Maddie, who was asleep on a blanket on the floor. Alright, I'm gonna get her tucked in and then it'll be time for you to get to sleep man. It's late and Carli won't be happy I let you stay up this late."

"How late is it?" Luke asked and Sam checked her phone.

"Almost 11," Sam said and Luke's jaw dropped. He immediately yawned and Sam heard his tiny footstep behind her. She got Maddie tucked in, made sure that there were no monsters under Luke's bed, and then went back downstairs to wait for Carli to get back home. She had taken Zack out to go school shopping, which had turned into dinner and Dave & Buster's while Sam stayed in with the younger children. It was almost midnight by the time that Zack and Carli had gotten home, Sam barely staying away until then.

"Oh my god, why are you up?" Carli asked and Sam pulled Carli down for a kiss.

"I'm going to bed now, night," Sam said and Carli thought it was sweet. Zack carried in his stuff and Carli told him to lock up since she was joining Sam. "Nice of you to finally join me."

"Sorry, we played games and then there was a horror movie starting on the way out. He wanted to see it, so I took him to it," Carli explained to Sam. Sam shrugged it off, but was a bit upset that she had been away from Carli for so long. Sam was clingy, even if she didn't want to admit it, and she only got clingier once she learned about the pregnancy. Sam had taken a shift that allowed her more time to be home and was beginning to change her schedule to take more of the load of life off of Carli. "Hope agreed to take Maddie for the days when I need to be in the office, but I need you to pick her up after you get off work."

"No problem," Sam said and Carli thanked her with a kiss. "When does school start?"

"A few days," Carli said, running a hand through her hair. "Zack has all of his stuff and I just need to find Luke a new lunchbox."

"Tomorrow, I'll take the other two all day. I think he know that with another sibling, he'll get to see even less of you," Sam said. Carli laid down next to her and Sam wrapped herself around Carli. "I'll even go get us pancakes for breakfast, just spend some more time with him. He's just as much your little guy as he is Hope's."

"Maddie is Hope's little girl. Nobody else stands a chance, Zack is my baby boy, and Luke is trying to figure out who he wants to run to, but I think it's you," Carli said and Sam felt flattered. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. "Because all he wanted to see was you when I quarantined him."

"Lies," Sam said, trying not to get choked up. For so long, Sam had tried so hard to be what they all needed in their lives and while she knew that they liked her, it never occurred to her that she could have possibly meant so much to any of them.


	16. Chapter 16

"Hope, can you do me a favor?" Carli asked as Sam put the phone on speaker. It was 1:10, two hours before school let out, so Carli assumed that Hope would be awake and able to pick up the kids from school.

 _ **"Depends on what it is,"**_ Hope said, sounding cautious.

"Can you pick Zack and Luke up from school? Maddie went to Abby's today anyways, my appointments are going a bit longer than planned," Carli said and Hope agreed. "Thank you, you're a life saver."

 _ **"Okay, that works pretty well actually,"**_ Hope said before hanging up. Carli turned to Sam, who was slipping her phone in her pockets.

"Do you know if Hope's planning anything?" Carli asked and Sam shook her head. "Would you tell me if you did?"

"I'd like to think so, I really would," Sam said and Carli sighed. "I promise I know about as much if you do, if not less."

"Okay, thank you for your honesty. It means a lot to me Sam, seriously," Carli said, moving forward to kiss Sam. Sam sighed and moved away from Carli, immediately feeling guilty. "Thought so. Spill."

"Kelley's at Hope's right now and Kelley mentioned when we were working out the other day that Hope asked if it'd be appropriate for Kelley to be introduced to Zack and Luke as her girlfriend." Sam spoke so fast that Carli almost missed what she was saying.

"That all?" Carli asked, unimpressed by the information. She had assumed that Zack and Luke both already knew something was going on. Zack had to have an understanding that Hope wasn't single anymore, especially since he had definitely overheard Sam and Hope talking. Carli could never tell what Luke knew and what he was keeping to himself, her tactic for Sam didn't work as well on him as it did on Sam. Still, Carli trusted Luke to tell her the truth, at least most of the time.

* * *

"Hey sexy," Julie said, rolling over to see Christen sitting halfway out of the window. "Didn't realize sharing a bed with me was that bad."

"It's not, I was trying to get a picture," Christen said before climbing out of the window. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, how's the work going?" Julie asked. She didn't completely understand what Christen was doing, but she never really did. In her eyes, Christen was just amazing and smart, making enough money to keep herself comfortable and put away a bit for savings. Christen crawled into bed with Julie and pressed a series of kisses all over the blonde's face. Sometimes it was nice for both of them to just be cute around each other. "Do you wanna go on a date?"

"Now?" Christen asked and Julie nodded. "Sure, just let me get ready."

"No need, this date is practically just a McDonald's run," Julie said, getting out of bed. She threw on a pair of shorts over her underwear and changed out of her work shirt. Christen had to admit that her mouth watered a little at the sight of Julie's arms and legs on display. "Are you wearing those slippers out?"

"No, I need you to leave so I change," Christen said. Julie left, knowing they'd never leave if she didn't. Julie waited in the living room for Christen before the two of them left. Julie grabbed onto Christen's ass as the older woman passed her in the hallway. "Stop or else we won't get far."

"Maybe I can eat something else for breakfast," Julie said and Christen shook her her head.

"After," Christen said and Julie sighed. They walked to the parking lot hand in hand and Julie kept holding onto Christen's hand as she drove. It felt very domestic and Julie had never been in a relationship that moved so quickly before, but she wasn't complaining. She had heard about how fast Ali and Ash had moved once they got comfortable and she wasn't completely sure how long that Hope and Kelley had been together, but they seemed to be approaching a fast track. Julie didn't mind how she was moving with Christen because it felt natural and that was what mattered to Julie. She supposed that was what love was, having that natural feeling around somebody even if it didn't make sense.

* * *

"Zack, where are you going man?" Zack turned around and smiled a little when he saw his friend Pete approach him. "I thought we were hanging out today."

"I can't, I'm going to my mom's," Zack said and Pete looked confused. "Not Carli, my mother one."

"The rich junkie?" Pete asked and Zack grit his teeth. Pete noticed the sudden tension between them and backed away with his hands up. "Hey, it's how you always talked about her."

"Well, it's not like that anymore. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't talk about her like that. She's working really hard to make sure she's a good mother now," Zack said and Pete nodded. "She doesn't live by the woods, so I'm not sure if I can go."

"Damn, that sucks," Pete said. He continued to walk with Zack, both of them went the same way to meet with their younger siblings after school. "Maybe we can play Fortnite tonight."

"I doubt it. Sam made my mom really mad the other day and my mom hasn't let anybody on the Xbox," Zack said and Pete frowned. "I think we're all supposed to be out of the house this weekend, so we can hang out then."

"I bet Abby will let you stay over," Pete said excitedly. Neither of them were paying a whole lot of attention to where they were going and Zack felt himself walk into somebody. He took a step back and looked up, surprised to see his mother waiting for him. Pete looked between them and wondered what was going to happen, slightly fearful.

"Sorry mom," Zack said quickly, relaxing a bit. "Luke's inside, I'll go get him."

"Okay," Hope said, glancing back at the parking lot. Zack looked back to see one of the cars they had worked on.

"You finished it without me?" Zack sounded hurt and Hope nodded. "When?"

"This morning, I had extra time on my hands. Also, the engine came and I am not a patient person. Also, there was no way you could have helped with that," Hope said. Zack was still a bit upset that he hadn't gotten to be there when she initially fired up the engine of the old truck, but he guessed that he was glad it worked. They had spent most of their time together getting that fixed up and both of them had been anxious it never would have worked. "We've still got the Mustang dude, don't worry."

"I know," Zack said before heading inside. Pete followed him inside and Hope stayed outside and texted Kelley until Zack brought Luke out. Hope smiled at the sight of it, Zack carrying Luke's backpack as Luke babbled on and on about his day. Hope gave Luke a piggyback ride to the parking lot, gaining some looks from disapproving parents, and then opened the backseat door for them. Luke buckled himself up and then stared in the rear view mirror before realizing that Kelley was sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Kelley!" Luke yelled and Kelley turned and smiled at him. "Why are you in Mama's car?"

"Because Kelley is my girlfriend. Like Sam is your mom's girlfriend," Hope explained and Luke got really excited. "Can we play Jenga at the house?"

"Sure thing dude," Kelley answered. Hope could already tell that she had picked a good one with Kelley. Once they were home, Kelley and Luke played Jenga inside while Hope took Zack to start working on the next car in the garage.

"Who was that kid you were walking with?" Hope asked. For a second, Zack was scared. Technically, Carli wasn't so keen on Pete and Zack being friends. Pete was older, a high schooler, and he had a track record of getting in trouble. He had gotten in fights and apparently smoked weed a couple of times. Pete also had dated one of the more popular girls in school, without having to be super athletic or rich. Zack thought he was the absolute shit, Carli thought that eventually, Pete was going to get Zack into some deep shit. 

"Pete," Zack said and Hope nodded. "He's a sophomore. We're friends, he lives near Abby. We hang out when I go over there."

"Okay, just be careful. Older kids always seem cool, but they can get you in a lot of trouble sometimes. Just ask your mom." Hope's meaning was heavier than either of them really looked into, but Hope was fine with that.

* * *

"Do you kiss Mama?" Luke asked and Kelley nodded. "Do you love her?" 

"I, uh, don't know yet. It's really early, but I do really like her. I also promise to take good care of her, nothing's gonna hurt her if I can stop it," Kelley said and Luke supposed he could like that answer enough. "How was school?"

"Okay, there's a girl in my class I like. She's really, really pretty. Her name's Emma, but Dante likes her too and Dante can run faster than me. Oh, and he knows how to play real baseball, not just t-ball," Luke said sadly. Kelley remembered what it had been like being his age and liking somebody who may not have really liked her back. She felt for him, but if she managed to date her teenage crush, he could hold hands with this Emma girl.

"Well, you should try to be friends with Emma. Sure, Dante can run fast and play baseball, but you're such a great goalkeeper and if you're anything like either of your moms, you can be fast," Kelley said and Luke smiled at her.

"Thank you Kelley. Sam just told me to hit Dante in the nuts," Luke said and Kelley refrained from cackling. "Mommy had a talk with her about apropriation answers."

"Appropriate?" Kelley asked and Luke nodded. "Yeah, maybe don't go with Sam's advice."


	17. Chapter 17

Carli sighed as Hope and Sam got out of the car. She had wanted Hope to watch the kids while Sam took her to the doctor's appointment, but Sam insisted that Hope join them on the trip. Carli did know how well Hope was with these and last time Sam had gotten scared before she even entered the building, so Carli was alone for her first appointment. Now, Carli was walking behind them as Hope led Sam inside of the doctor's office. Carli filled out the paperwork she needed to and then sat down next to Sam. Sam was twiddling her thumbs and bouncing her leg rapidly. Carli wondered what was going through Sam's head and if it was anything like what Hope had written in that unreleased manuscript that she had written just before she moved back to New Jersey.

"Hey, calm down," Hope said to Sam. Sam looked up at the older woman and pouted slightly. "I made it through three rounds of these. It's nothing, trust me."

"But what if there's something wrong with the baby?" Sam asked in a frightened tone and Hope punched her arm. "Ow, what was that for?" 

"Shut up. There's not gonna be a singe thing wrong with that baby," Hope assured Sam. Sam nodded and took several deep breaths. Carli became less annoyed when she realized that Hope could provide an amount of support for Sam that Carli just couldn't. Hope and Sam were so much alike, but at the same time so different. Sam was a mixture of a teenage Hope and what Hope was trying to become now. Sam was both young and mature at the same time, much more of either than Sam realized. Carli was starting to notice that Sam did take charge a lot more around the house and she was involved in more than just the lives of Hope and Carli's children.

"Can she come into the office with us?" Sam asked and Carli nodded. "Thank you."

"You need her. This is a stressful time for both of us. Whatever you need, I'll try to make sure you have," Carli promised and Sam leaned down for a kiss. Hope fake gagged and Sam immediately pushed Carli away a bit. Carli rolled her eyes and checked her phone as she waited for the doctor to call her back. Abby and Christie had been texting her, asking if she needed one of them to come to an appointment sometime. Zack had texted to ask whether or not Hope was picking them up and Carli told him that Abby would come and get them from school. Zack had been going to Hope's whenever he could after school for the past month and a half. They worked on cars together and Hope was teaching him quite a bit from that. Carli couldn't believe how far Hope had come from whenever they were teenagers and the girl would be having breakdowns because she didn't feel smart enough to go anywhere. Hope's grades hadn't been the best, but that had been because she didn't apply herself and let soccer take over everything.

"Carli Lloyd." Carli, Sam, and Hope stood up when Carli's name was called. Quite a few people looked at the group, especially whenever Sam grabbed onto Hope's hand instead of Carli's. Hope stood behind Sam in the doctor's actual office as Carli's check up happened. Hope noted that the doctor seemed really young. This definitely wasn't the crotchety old man that they had dealt with years ago. 

"Alright, well, I think we can get a reveal on the gender of your baby," the doctor said and Carli nodded. "Congratulations on your baby girl." 

"Daughter?" Sam asked and Carli nodded. Sam turned to Hope and smiled at her. "I'm gonna have a daughter."

"Yeah, I know. I was right here when the doctor said so," Hope teased and Sam stood up. She hugged Hope and started sobbing. Hope hugged her back and sent a congratulatory smile towards Carli. "Alright, you're gonna ruin my shirt with your tears."

"This calls for a celebration," Sam said with a pause. "Ice cream!" 

* * *

"Julie, wake up. It's almost time for you to leave for work," Kelley said softly as she nudged the sleeping beauty on the couch. Julie stirred and groaned as she sat up slowly. She was hungover and wanted to die. Still, she showered and rushed to work. Christen was still in her bedroom passed out whenever Kelley checked on her. "Damn party animals."

"Where is everybody?" Alex asked as she walked out of Kelley's room. "When did you get here?"

"Hope dropped me off when she went to meet Sam and Carli for lunch," Kelley answered with a yawn. "I'm a little tired. Oh, and sore."

"Gross," Alex said with an eye roll. "Did you use protection?"

"Dude, so much protection. Hope buys nice condoms," Kelley said as she sat down at the dining room table. Kelley had to admit that her apartment was looking a lot more adult since she had started dating Hope. "Obviously Sam needs to do the same."

"Maybe they were trying to have a baby," Alex said and Kelley couldn't imagine anyone responsible wanting a baby with Sam Kerr. "They have been together for years."

"Sam's essentially a child herself. I mean, Christie threw her out of the gym last month for a tantrum she had with Carli," Kelley said and Alex punched Kelley's arm.

"That's not how it went and it's not even any of your business. Focus on Hope and your own relationship you asshole," Alex snapped and Kelley put her hands up defensively. 'Sorry, I'm just over everything right now."

"It's okay. I'm going to go for a food run. Do you want anything?" Kelley asked and Alex shook her head. "Go take a shower and then wake up your girlfriend. I want to be able to use my bed tonight."

"I will, I promise," Alex said and Kelley grabbed her car keys before she left. Alex ran her hand through her hair and then got up and took her shower and prepped herself to wake up a hungover Tobin Heath.


	18. Flashback

Carli sighed as Hope dropped all of the groceries on the kitchen floor. She looked so proud of herself for getting every single bag into the house in one go that Carli would have felt bad if she had actually said something. Carli handed Hope the baby before she got started on putting everything away. Carli could hear Hope explaining the soccer game that was on TV to the eight month old who was no doubt more invested in how Hope's hands moved as she explained things. Zack liked playing with people's hands and fingers. Carli peeked her head out into the living room to see Hope talking to him while he clutched her middle fingers in his tiny fists. The team that Hope was supporting for the game must have gotten a goal because Carli watched as Hope lifted Zack up and started running around the room with him. He giggled as Hope celebrated the goal. 

"Hope, he's gonna-," Carli tried to warn Hope that Zach was gonna throw up, but the baby beat her to it. Hope looked at the bit of baby vomit on the floor. 

"I'll clean it up, I swear," Hope said as she handed Zack over to Carli. Carli watched with a slightly amused expression on her face as Hope ran to clean up the mess on the floor. Hope was adjusting fairly well to being around Zack full time. Hope was taking well to the parenting part of everything and Carli was very impressed with her. "Alright buddy, let's get you a new outfit. Do we just throw this one away?"

"No, I'll do laundry in a bit. Just, none of that whenever I'm gone," Carli said and Hope didn't have to be told twice. Carli gathered laundry to do and put a load in before she went back upstairs and curled up with Hope and Zack on the couch. "Alright, hand him over. You need a nap lady."

"I'm fine," Hope yawned and Carli took Zack away from her. Carli took him into his room and laid him down in his crib after she'd rocked him to sleep in her arms. Carli walked back into the living room to see Hope asleep on the couch. Carli put a blanket over Hope and then turned off the TV.

* * *

"it's fine, we're all friends here, aren't we?" Hope considered the woman's words. She didn't remember the girl's name, just that she was from Norway, very pretty, and had a lot of coke. Hope hadn't done any yet. She had partied with this woman before though, it was part of her latest fight with Carli. "Come on, you can trust your friends Hopey."

"I guess so," Hope said as she leaned down and snorted a line of coke. The model cheered and Hope waited for the high to hit. Once it did, the party became a lot more fun for Hope. Any thoughts of her impending divorce were forced out of her head and Hope was really letting loose. Hope wasn't sure how long they were out on the water for, but she was definitely still a little high by the time that they got back to shore. Hope was drunk, but she was functional. She had sunglasses on and she swayed a little bit when she walked.

"Hope!" Abby yelled and Hope turned around to see the slightly taller blonde woman staring at her with a look of disapproval. "Where have you been?"

"I was on the boat with my friends. Carli told me to fucking go, so I did," Hope said and Abby sighed heavily. "What are you doing here?"

"You've been gone for three days. Were you out there the entire time?" Abby asked and Hope shrugged. "When did you get on the boat Hope?"

"After I left Carli's," Hope said and Abby started to drag the other woman towards her car. Hope planted her feet and Abby lifted Hope up and carried her off. Abby noticed that Hope was lighter than normal, but she didn't say anything. "Where are you taking me?"

"To my house to sober up before you go apologize to Carli," Abby answered.

"No, Carli's divorcing me. I'm going back to Seattle and waiting for her to send me the papers. Fuck her," Hope said and Abby sighed. "I'm gonna call for a flight right now.'

Abby watched as Hope pulled out a phone that was cracked and had powder on the back of it. Hope swore under her breath and stared out the window with tears in her eyes. Everything was starting to crash around her and Hope couldn't handle that spiral downwards. Abby glanced at Hope from the corner of her eye and saw her try to snort some of the powder from her phone. Abby grabbed the device from Hope and threw it out of the window before she locked the doors and sped up. Hope sat there with a dead expression on her face before she turned to Abby and started screaming at her. Abby just let Hope throw her fit until they got to her house. Abby knew that Hope couldn't do anything too bad with Christie across the street and other neighbors around.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Hope yelled and Abby prepared herself for Hope's first hit. Hope lunged at her and Abby caught her before she could fall on her face. Hope just sort of stood there for a moment before she threw up and passed out in Abby's arms. Abby carried her back into the car and dropped her off at the hospital. She was officially somebody else's problem now.

* * *

"Why don't you have a boat?" Haley asked as Hope played with her hair.

"I don't like boats," Hope said and Haley sighed. "Why are you asking me about boats?" 

"I just figured that you'd buy a boat or something. People with money do that. It was always my dad's dream. He wanted a big boat so he could take all of us out on the lake once we gave him grandchildren," Haley said and Hope chuckled. "Could we do that?"

"Haley, I don't think that's a good idea. I'm a terrible parent," Hope said and Haley sighed.

"No, you just don't think you are so you act how you think you should. You're sweet, caring, and would do anything for someone you love. I know that you could afford a lawyer to get everything," Haley pointed out and Hope sighed. "You could get yourself whatever you want, but instead you worked on someone else's terms because you trusted they knew better than you."

"Because they do. You're too young to get it. Hell, you're too young to be laying here with me having this conversation," Hope said with a heavy sigh.

"I'm 22, perfectly old enough to have this conversation with you Hope. There are a lot of conversations to be had at my age," Haley said nonchalantly and Hope leaned down a kissed her. Haley kissed back before she turned so that she could spoon Hope. "You know, my roommate gets back in an hour from work, so you could always stay until the morning."

"You'd be sick of me by then, I know it," Hope said and Haley pouted at her. "I can't even see your face, but I'm just gonna go out on a limb and tell you to stop pouting. It's hard enough to leave you alone after."

"The point of me pouting is for you to not leave babe," Haley said and Hope sighed. She sat up and started to gather her things. "Christine wouldn't say anything if she saw you."

"I'll pick you up for breakfast tomorrow and you can spend the whole day with me then. Does that sound good?"

"It sounds too good to be true," Haley said and Hope rolled her eyes.

"Well, you'd better believe it." Hope gave Haley a quick kiss before she left Haley's apartment and went home to a cold and empty house.


End file.
